Water is one of the most important resources in the supply chain of mining operations and major pathway for mining related contaminants to the nature. Efficient wastewater treatment step is required before water can be circulated for reuse in the process or released into receiving water bodies. Existing mine wastewater emissions show that current treatment methods are not efficient enough to remove the sulfates. In this project a novel catalytic treatment method will be developed in order to remove simultaneously sulfates and retain metals from the mining waters. Catalytic materials will be developed and tested with laboratory scale set-up equipped with on-line analysis. The surface properties of the catalysts will be studied with number of surface analysis techniques. The overall aim is to develop a new treatment method for mine wastewater purification having high prospective for commercialization in the future.

2020