Environmental impact caused by a tailings pond expansion in the nickel industry
Keywords:
tailings pond, impact assessment, nickel industry, Moa.Abstract
In Cuban nickel plants, the tailings are stored in ponds. The storage capacity of these tailings ponds requires to be constantly increased. The tailings pond capacity is to be increased upward by raising dykes due to space limitations to the pond´s length. The environmental impacts of this expansion have been identified and assessed by applying the Buroz´s Relevant Integrated Criteria, which combines several methods. This assessment allowed identifying the main actions causing the environmental impact, which are as follows: construction, tailings pond operations, pond decommissioning and post-decommissioning activities. The environmental components that are most affected are: the soil, the water, the air, the biota and the socio-economic factor. The most significant impacts were identified to be caused during the pond construction phase and operations. The elements that are most affected are: the soil, the air, the water, the biota and the economy. This work proposes actions to be carried out for the prevention, remediation and mitigation of the negative environmental impacts that have been identified in the environmental assessment.Downloads
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