Environmental Impact of Gold Ore Tailings: A Comprehensive Review on Ecological Risks and Sustainable Management Approaches

Abstract

Gold ore tailings (GOT) are the bulk of all mine waste produced by the mining industry and continue to have a negative impact on the environment and sustainability in all mining regions worldwide. The following review presents a broad evaluation of GOT, focusing on their characterization, the means by which they are contaminated, potential ecological risks, methods of remediation, and potential opportunities for sustainable reuse. The presence of hazardous elements within tailings in elevated concentrations results in long‐term contamination of both soil and water, whereas posing increased risk to both human health and the ecological environment into the far future. Using the methods of mineralogical, chemical, and risk‐based assessment shows that the potential mobility and environmental persistence of metals in multiple media are similar in all media studied. Phytoremediation and amended‐assisted remediation methods have high potential, but the efficiency of both types of methods is still subject to the local climate and other factors. Examples of engineering‐based methods to create value‐added products from GOT include geopolymerization, sintered bricks, and recovering metals. For all engineering methods studied, the combination of both biological and engineering methods produced the highest level of sustainability. This study makes a case for the need to develop combined remediation and reuse methods that will provide for both environmental restoration and the most efficient resource use for GOT.