Native wetland plants will be studied for their potential to filter mining waste in a project conducted by a Charles Sturt University PhD student at the Cadia Valley mine.
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Allan Adams will investigate a wetland solution to capturing and storing the excess copper, manganese and zinc that leach from excavated rock dumps when the rock is exposed to the atmosphere.
The leachate, which has the appearance of clear water, is stored in holding ponds, which will be planted with four different species of plant in the coming weeks.
Mr Adams said the research would be concerned with two main issues: how well the plants stored the metals and how well they performed under the specific conditions at Cadia.
“It’s hoped that the water leaves the bottom of the dump, passes through the plants, and the metals are stored in those plants. The initial results will be from some reed plants that are already growing there. They’ve colonised the site. In addition to that we will put our plants out there,” he said.
Mr Adams will also test how plants react to different concentrations of metal in a greenhouse and compare results to plants growing in a dam at CSU.
He said there had been ongoing collaboration between Cadia Valley Operations and the university.
“Probably for the last seven years they’ve been working with students doing research at the site. They had a couple of different projects they were looking at exploring. This was the one that grabbed me,” he said.
Mr Adams is working under an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship, with Cadia assisting with funding for plants and instruments.
He said the mine benefited from having access to research specifically about the conditions on site.
“They could employ consultants but they’re getting first-hand insight into how these plants will perform in those conditions,” he said.
Newcrest Mining Environmental Scientist in Operations John Ford said it was not too early to investigate how the mine could be decommissioned in the future.
“We believe that, through early investigation and development of sustainable mine closure solutions, Newcrest Mining could be one of the first to provide stable, productive and sustainable landscapes as part of our rehabilitation of the mine site,” he said.
