Towards mining the mine water - recovery of aluminium and manganese

Mine water or rock drainage is a source of pollution for Romanian as well as for mining sites all around the world. Rock drainage is generated as a result of the weathering of the sulphidic minerals from which metal ions are leached. The metal ions are the main polluting species existing in the mine water, but may also be seen as a resource that is wasted. However, the recovery is seldom applied, as it is not feasible due to complex chemical matrix. Some types of mine water are more appropriate for the resource recovery, the best known case being copper reach streams. Here we show some attractive results suggesting that the recovery of aluminium, but also of manganese would be feasible practices for particular mine water categories and for distinct utilizations: mine water treatment and high purity resource for metallurgy, respectively.