Risk and Remediation of Metal-Mining Wastes

项目总结（总体中心：Maier，Lantz） 亚利桑那大学超级基金研究计划（UA SRP）正在调查人类和 与金属采矿有关的环境风险。大多数金属开采发生在美国西部， 国家和世界其他干旱和半干旱地区。干旱环境面临的一个核心挑战是， 暴露途径和采矿污染的命运和清理与接受采矿污染的地区不同， 更多的降雨这导致在地雷对健康和环境的影响方面存在很大的知识差距。 废物系统。我们的中心将解决这一总体差距中的两个主要问题。首先是缺乏 了解采矿废物的行为和遏制以及空气和水的相对影响 采矿废物扩散到干旱环境。矿山废物，特别是遗留的尾矿，产生粉尘- 有毒金属（如砷和铅）。这些废物还产生酸性矿井排水， 地下水往往是周围社区的主要饮用水源， 第二个知识差距是对吸入地雷对人体健康的影响缺乏了解 粉尘，特别是关于慢性肺部疾病的发展。联合航空SRP有一个无与伦比的集团 科学家来填补这些知识空白。三个UA SRP环境项目的重点是 开发场地清理和表征地表（灰尘）和地下（水）的新技术 运输和与采矿废物相关的金属在清理之前和之后的命运。两个生物医学 项目围绕确定吸入暴露的重要性和金属毒物的健康影响， 采矿废物，重点是砷及其对肺部疾病的影响。结果将用于建立概念和 描述金属毒性机制和从废物区向邻近区域移动的定量模型 社区或生态系统。我们的环境和生物医学研究人员将共同使用这些模型 1）开发暴露评估工具，用于评估邻近社区的风险 矿山废物或冶炼厂场地; 2）评估新的地表和地下清理的有效性 技术;以及3）提供关于砷（矿山中最常见的有毒物质之一）如何 废物，发挥其作用。项目团队与研究翻译，社区参与， 和培训核心，以支持这项研究的动态翻译到邻近超级基金的社区 地点、联邦（EPA、ATSDR）和州（AZ部门）环境质量部，亚利桑那州卫生服务） 利益相关者和采矿业。为进一步扩大其影响，普遍获得服务战略改革方案将继续发展， 补充性倡议，如环境可持续采矿中心，一个行业学术机构， 合作将研究成果真实的及时地转移到实地。指导UA SRP的原则是， 研究应在推进个别科学领域方面创新。更重要的是， （c）在整个采矿业中采取各种做法，以改善环境/生态系统的保护和保护人类健康。

PROJECT SUMMARY (Overall Center: Maier, Lantz) The University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (UA SRP) is investigating the human and environmental risks associated with metal mining. A majority of metal mining takes place in the Western United States and other arid and semi-arid parts of the world. A central challenge for arid environments is that human exposure routes and the fate and cleanup of mining contamination are different than for areas that receive more rainfall. This has led to a large knowledge gap in regard to health and environmental effects of mine waste systems. Our Center will address two major issues within this overall gap. The first is the lack of understanding of mining waste behavior and containment and the relative impacts of airborne and waterborne spread of mine waste into arid environments. Mine wastes, in particular legacy mine tailings, generate dust- borne toxic metals (for example, arsenic and lead). These wastes also generate acid mine drainage, resulting in contamination of groundwater which is often the primary potable water source for surrounding communities. The second knowledge gap is a lack of understanding of the human health consequences of inhalation of mine dusts, specifically regarding the development of chronic lung diseases. The UA SRP has an unparalleled group of scientists to address these knowledge gaps. The three UA SRP environmental projects are focused on developing new technologies for site cleanup and on characterizing surface (dust) and subsurface (water) transport and fate of metals associated with mining waste both before and after cleanup. The two biomedical projects center around defining the importance of inhalation exposures and health impacts of metal toxicants in mine wastes, focusing on arsenic and its effects on lung disease. Results will be used to build conceptual and quantitative models to describe mechanisms of metal toxicity and movement from waste areas into neighboring communities or ecosystems. Together, our environmental and biomedical researchers will use these models to: 1) develop exposure assessment tools that can be used to evaluate the risk for communities that neighbor mine waste or smelter sites; 2) evaluate the effectiveness of new surface and subsurface cleanup technologies; and 3) provide critical information on how arsenic, one of the most prevalent toxicants in mine waste, exerts its effects. Project teams work seamlessly with Research Translation, Community Engagement, and Training Cores to support the dynamic translation of this research to communities adjacent to Superfund sites, federal (EPA, ATSDR) and state (AZ Dept. Environmental Quality, AZ Dept. Health Services) stakeholders, and the mining industry. To further its impact, the UA SRP will continue to develop complementary initiatives, such as the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining, an industry-academic cooperative to move research results into the field in real time. The principle guiding the UA SRP is that its research should be innovative in advancing individual scientific fields. More importantly, it should transform industry-wide practices in mining to improve environment/ecosystem preservation and protect human health.