Conference Topics – Explanations

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1. Acid Mine Drainage – Prevention, Monitoring and Control

Focuses on meth­ods and tech­no­lo­gies for mon­it­or­ing, con­trolling, and pre­vent­ing acid mine drain­age (AMD), address­ing its envir­on­ment­al implic­a­tions, and dis­cuss­ing suc­cess­ful strategies and innov­a­tions in AMD man­age­ment and mit­ig­a­tion.

2. Emerging Technologies – Sensors, UAV, Machine Learning and the like

Explores the latest advance­ments in sensors, unmanned aer­i­al vehicles (UAVs), machine learn­ing, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, and oth­er tech­no­lo­gies for mon­it­or­ing, ana­lys­ing, and man­aging mine water and asso­ci­ated envir­on­ment­al chal­lenges.

3. Ecology and Microbiology of Mining-influenced Water

Exam­ines the eco­lo­gic­al and micro­bi­o­lo­gic­al aspects of min­ing-influ­enced water, includ­ing micro­bi­al pro­cesses with respect to the gen­er­a­tion and mit­ig­a­tion of min­ing influ­enced water, biod­iversity, and the inter­ac­tions between microor­gan­isms and con­tam­in­ants in vari­ous min­ing envir­on­ments.

4. Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Mine Geochemistry

Addresses the hydro­lo­gic­al and hydro­geo­lo­gic­al dynam­ics of mine water sys­tems, includ­ing the geo­chem­ic­al and biogeo­chem­ic­al pro­cesses influ­en­cing water qual­ity and the move­ment of water through min­ing land­scapes and effects on aquifers.

5. Mine water and water resources management

Dis­cusses integ­rated approaches to man­aging mine water and broad­er water resources, bal­an­cing min­ing oper­a­tions with the sus­tain­able use of water resources and address­ing water qual­ity issues as well as water scarcity or its excess.

6. Mine Drainage of Abandoned Mines

Focuses on the chal­lenges and solu­tions related to mine drain­age from aban­doned mines, includ­ing long-term envir­on­ment­al impacts, remedi­ation strategies, and mon­it­or­ing tech­niques.

7. Mine Closure and Associated Legacy Issues

Explores the envir­on­ment­al, social, and eco­nom­ic issues asso­ci­ated with mine clos­ure, includ­ing leg­acy pol­lu­tion, land rehab­il­it­a­tion, com­munity influ­ences, and post-clos­ure water man­age­ment strategies.

8. Mine Water and Climate Dynamics

Invest­ig­ates the inter­ac­tions between mine water man­age­ment and cli­mate dis­rup­tion, includ­ing the effects of extreme weath­er events, chan­ging hydro­lo­gic­al pat­terns, and adapt­ive strategies for resi­li­ence.

9. Active Mine Water Treatment

Cov­ers tech­niques and tech­no­lo­gies for act­ive treat­ment of mine water, includ­ing bio­lo­gic­al, chem­ic­al and phys­ic­al pro­cesses to remove con­tam­in­ants and improve water qual­ity.

10. Passive Mine Water Treatment – Nature based solutions

High­lights nature-based solu­tions for pass­ive treat­ment of mine water, util­iz­ing con­struc­ted wet­lands, biore­act­ors, and oth­er eco­lo­gic­al approaches to mit­ig­ate pol­lu­tion and enhance water qual­ity.

11. Tailings and Tailings Ponds

Exam­ines the man­age­ment of tail­ings and tail­ings ponds, includ­ing envir­on­ment­al risks, mon­it­or­ing, treat­ment tech­no­lo­gies, and strategies for min­im­iz­ing poten­tial neg­at­ive effects of tail­ings on water resources or the reuse of tail­ings.

12. Organic pollutants in Mine Water

Dis­cusses the sources, fate, and treat­ment of organ­ic pol­lut­ants in mine water, includ­ing hydro­car­bons, solvents, and oth­er organ­ic com­pounds that may arise from min­ing activ­it­ies.

13. Process Water from raw material beneficiation

Focuses on the treat­ment and man­age­ment of pro­cess water gen­er­ated dur­ing raw mater­i­al bene­fi­ci­ation, includ­ing recyc­ling, reuse, and strategies for redu­cing water con­sump­tion and con­tam­in­a­tion.

14. Water-Energy Nexus in Mining Operations

Explores the inter­con­nec­tions between water and energy in min­ing oper­a­tions, address­ing the chal­lenges of water usage in energy-intens­ive pro­cesses and oppor­tun­it­ies for improv­ing effi­ciency and sus­tain­ab­il­ity.

15. Beneficial Uses of Mining-influenced Water

Invest­ig­ates poten­tial bene­fi­cial uses of min­ing-influ­enced water, such as pot­able water, agri­cul­tur­al irrig­a­tion, indus­tri­al applic­a­tions, and hab­it­at cre­ation, along with the neces­sary treat­ment to make such uses fit for pur­pose.

16. Geothermal Energy and Mine Water

Exam­ines the poten­tial for using mine water for geo­therm­al energy pro­duc­tion, includ­ing tech­no­lo­gic­al approaches, eco­nom­ic feas­ib­il­ity, changes in volume and tem­per­at­ure and case stud­ies of suc­cess­ful imple­ment­a­tions.

17. Circular Economy and Resilience in Mining-influenced Water

Dis­cusses the role of cir­cu­lar eco­nomy prin­ciples in man­aging min­ing-influ­enced water, pro­mot­ing resource recov­ery, waste min­im­iz­a­tion, under­ground pumped hydro­elec­tric energy stor­age, resi­li­ence in min­ing oper­a­tions and as resource in a post clos­ure eco­nomy.

18. Mine Heritage and historical water Issues

Explores his­tor­ic­al per­spect­ives on mine water issues, includ­ing the leg­acy of past min­ing prac­tices, his­tor­ic­al con­tam­in­a­tion, and efforts to pre­serve and learn from min­ing her­it­age.

19. Communication about Mining and Mine Water – Stakeholders and Public

Addresses strategies for effect­ive com­mu­nic­a­tion about min­ing and mine water issues with stake­hold­ers, reg­u­lat­ors and the pub­lic, includ­ing trans­par­ency, risk com­mu­nic­a­tion, and com­munity engage­ment.

20. Policy Frameworks and Regulatory Approaches

Reviews exist­ing policy frame­works and reg­u­lat­ory approaches to mine water man­age­ment, dis­cuss­ing their effect­ive­ness, chal­lenges, and poten­tial areas for reform and improve­ment.

21. Case Studies

Presents detailed case stud­ies of mine water man­age­ment from vari­ous min­ing oper­a­tions around the world, high­light­ing suc­cesses, and chal­lenges from real-world applic­a­tions.

22. Lessons learned – What went wrong?

Focuses on ana­lys­ing fail­ures and set­backs in mine water man­age­ment or in mine water related exper­i­ments, examin­ing the root causes, con­sequences, and les­sons learned to improve future prac­tices and pre­vent sim­il­ar issues.