Electrokinetic Remediation for Environmental Security and Sustainability

4The Electrokinetic Recovery of Tungsten and Removal of Arsenic from Mining Secondary Resources: The Case of the Panasqueira Mine

Joana Almeida^1,2, Paulina Faria^2,3, António Santos Silva⁴, Eduardo P. Mateus¹, and Alexandra B. Ribeiro¹

CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829‐516 Caparica, Portugal

Department of Civil Engineering, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829‐516 Caparica, Portugal

CERIS – Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, 1049‐001 Lisbon, Portugal

Department of Materials, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, 1700‐066 Lisbon, Portugal

4.1 Introduction

Mining industries today are producing a larger volume of residues than ever. To access ore, waste rock needs to be removed, and other residues are generated in the process [1]. The accumulation of these residues in open pits leads to landscape problems and environmental deterioration. For example, the Panasqueira mine in Portugal has been active for more than a century and is one of the largest tin (Sn) – tungsten (W) deposits in Europe. The mining residues are low‐grade secondary resources that contain not only W, from wolframite, but also elements of environmental concern, including arsenic (As) from arsenopyrite [2].

The electrodialytic (ED) process has been studied ...