Re-purposing of mine waste tailings for carbon dioxide removal via enhanced rock weathering

增强岩石风化(ERW)是一种从大气中去除二氧化碳的技术，其基础是用磨细的富钙镁硅酸盐矿物改良农业土壤[1]。这项技术每年有可能从大气中消除多达20亿吨二氧化碳，并可能为实现《巴黎协定》将全球气温上升保持在比工业化前水平高2摄氏度的目标做出重大贡献[2]。每年，采矿作业产生数亿吨细碎的硅酸盐岩石作为采矿过程中产生的废物，这些废物储存在固体残渣设施(尾矿坝)中。该项目的目的是通过改良当地粮食和其他作物的土壤，进而创造循环经济，抵消甚至消除矿场的碳排放，确定尾矿作为战争遗留爆炸物原料的有效性。

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a technique for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere based on amending agricultural soils with finely ground calcium-and magnesium-rich silicate minerals [1]. This technique has the potential to remove up to 2 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year and could make a substantial contribution to meeting the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature rise to <2 C above pre-industrial levels [2].Each year, mining operations produce hundreds of millions of tonnes of finely ground silicate rocks as waste from the mining process, and these wastes are stored in solid residue facilities (tailings dams). The aim of this project is to determine the effectiveness of mine tailings as a feedstock for ERW through the improvement of local soils for food and other crops, in turn creating a circular economy and offsetting or even eliminating carbon emissions from mine sites.