Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) has completed Project M432 – Validation and Standardisation of Sequential Leaching Tests to Better Predict the Impact of Mining on Ground and Surface Water Quality. This was a two year MRIWA funded collaborative project between ChemCentre, MBS Environmental and BHP. The outcome is an optimised method to assess potential for leaching metals, salts and metalloids from iron ore waste rock containing low levels of oxidisable sulfur. The method is suitable for rapid screening of waste rock samples prior to static testwork to assist sample selection for long term kinetic column leaching studies. This is the 2nd of 4 collaborative projects MBS is participating in with the ChemCentre to foster continual improvement in materials characterisation.
The sequential leaching test report is available at https://www.mriwa.wa.gov.au/news/project-432/ Dr David Allen loves to chat about these projects, so please contact him for more information.