Use of mod­ern tech­nolo­gies in mine recla­ma­tion

The use of new tech­nolo­gies in the recla­ma­tion of min­er­al resource deposits is becom­ing an increas­ing­ly impor­tant task in mod­ern min­ing prac­tice. Recla­ma­tion is the process of restor­ing the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment in areas that have been dis­turbed dur­ing min­er­al extrac­tion, with the aim of ensur­ing their envi­ron­men­tal sta­bil­i­ty and eco­log­i­cal val­ue. Accord­ing to arti­cle 166 of the Land Code of Ukraine, recla­ma­tion of dis­turbed lands is a com­plex of orga­ni­za­tion­al, tech­ni­cal and biotech­no­log­i­cal mea­sures aimed at restor­ing the soil cov­er, improv­ing the con­di­tion and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty of dis­turbed lands.

One of the key direc­tions in recla­ma­tion is the use of advanced tech­nolo­gies to improve land­scape and ecosys­tem restora­tion process­es. New tech­nolo­gies make it pos­si­ble to reduce the neg­a­tive impact of min­ing activ­i­ties on the envi­ron­ment and min­i­mize eco­log­i­cal risks.

Bioremediation

The use of plant mate­r­i­al, microor­gan­isms, and micro­bi­o­log­i­cal process­es for clean­ing con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed soil and water is an effec­tive and envi­ron­men­tal­ly sus­tain­able approach that allows the restora­tion of envi­ron­men­tal qual­i­ty. These meth­ods, col­lec­tive­ly known as biore­me­di­a­tion, use liv­ing organ­isms or their enzy­mat­ic activ­i­ties to break down and neu­tral­ize pol­lu­tants. Below are some of the most com­mon biore­me­di­a­tion meth­ods:

Phy­tore­me­di­a­tion is a method that uses plants to clean con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed soils and water sources. Some plants have the abil­i­ty to accu­mu­late tox­ic sub­stances from the envi­ron­ment through their roots, stems, and leaves. After the plants absorb con­t­a­m­i­nants, they are har­vest­ed and safe­ly dis­posed of, remov­ing harm­ful sub­stances from the envi­ron­ment.

Micro­bi­o­log­i­cal biore­me­di­a­tion uses microor­gan­isms such as bac­te­ria and fun­gi to break down pol­lu­tants in soil and water into less tox­ic or harm­less com­po­nents. Microor­gan­isms decom­pose con­t­a­m­i­nants into sim­pler sub­stances, mak­ing them eas­i­er to remove from the envi­ron­ment.

Phy­tome­lio­ra­tion is a method that com­bines the action of plants and microor­gan­isms to clean con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed sites. Plants con­tribute to the phys­i­cal sta­bi­liza­tion of soil and cre­ate con­di­tions for the devel­op­ment of ben­e­fi­cial microor­gan­isms. In turn, microor­gan­isms pro­vide bio­log­i­cal purifi­ca­tion of con­t­a­m­i­nants in soil and water. An exam­ple of such inter­ac­tion is clover, which coex­ists with nitro­gen-fix­ing bac­te­ria and enrich­es the soil with nitro­gen com­pounds.

Bio­log­i­cal prepa­ra­tions con­tain liv­ing microor­gan­isms capa­ble of decom­pos­ing tox­ic sub­stances. These prepa­ra­tions can be intro­duced direct­ly into con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed soil or water to enhance the biore­me­di­a­tion process.

Biore­me­di­a­tion has sev­er­al advan­tages, includ­ing greater envi­ron­men­tal safe­ty, low­er cost com­pared to tra­di­tion­al clean­ing meth­ods, and reduced sec­ondary pol­lu­tion. How­ev­er, its suc­cess depends on the type of con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions, and the cho­sen method. The use of these bio­log­i­cal approach­es can con­tribute to the restora­tion of pol­lut­ed areas and the improve­ment of water qual­i­ty, ensur­ing a more sus­tain­able and bal­anced nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment.

Technical textiles

The use of tech­ni­cal tex­tiles is an impor­tant com­po­nent in the recla­ma­tion of areas that have been dis­turbed by min­ing activ­i­ties, con­struc­tion, or oth­er actions that have led to the degra­da­tion of nat­ur­al land­scapes. Tech­ni­cal tex­tiles are used to improve soil prop­er­ties, pre­serve soil mois­ture, sta­bi­lize slopes, con­trol ero­sion, and cre­ate con­di­tions for suc­cess­ful veg­e­ta­tion estab­lish­ment.

Below are some impor­tant appli­ca­tions of tech­ni­cal tex­tiles in land recla­ma­tion:

Geo­t­ex­tiles are a spe­cial type of tech­ni­cal tex­tile used to rein­force soil cov­er and con­trol ero­sion. Geo­t­ex­tiles are placed on the soil sur­face to pre­vent soil loss dur­ing rain­fall or oth­er nat­ur­al process­es. They help retain soil mois­ture, pro­mote even water dis­tri­b­u­tion, and reduce the impact of wind on the sur­face soil lay­er.

Geogrids are anoth­er type of tech­ni­cal tex­tile used to sta­bi­lize soil slopes. They pro­vide slope sta­bil­i­ty and pre­vent land­slides. Geogrids can be used as an alter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al slope rein­force­ment meth­ods such as stone or con­crete struc­tures.

Seed­ing nets help ensure even seed dis­tri­b­u­tion and pro­tect seeds from exter­nal fac­tors such as wind or water flow.

The use of tech­ni­cal tex­tiles in recla­ma­tion helps reduce neg­a­tive impacts on nat­ur­al ecosys­tems, pro­vides sta­ble ero­sion pro­tec­tion, and cre­ates con­di­tions for veg­e­ta­tion recov­ery. In addi­tion, these mate­ri­als can reduce the cost of recla­ma­tion works and make them more effi­cient and envi­ron­men­tal­ly safe.

Drone seeding

Seed­ing grass­es using drones, also known as “drone seed­ing”, is one of the newest tech­no­log­i­cal solu­tions in mod­ern bio­log­i­cal land recla­ma­tion. It increas­es the effi­cien­cy and accu­ra­cy of sow­ing agri­cul­tur­al crops. This method is based on the use of unmanned aer­i­al vehi­cles (UAVs), com­mon­ly known as drones, to dis­trib­ute seeds over reclaimed areas.

The main advan­tages of drone-based seed­ing include:
Pre­ci­sion and accu­ra­cy. Drones are equipped with spe­cial sen­sors and cam­eras, allow­ing them to deter­mine opti­mal seed­ing den­si­ty and seed dis­tri­b­u­tion across the field. This helps avoid over-seed­ing or under-seed­ing, increas­ing crop yield and reduc­ing seed costs.
Time and resource effi­cien­cy. Drone seed­ing sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduces the time required to sow large areas. It also decreas­es the need for man­u­al labor and heavy machin­ery, low­er­ing labor and fuel costs.
Increased yield. Due to more accu­rate seed dis­tri­b­u­tion and opti­mal grow­ing con­di­tions, drone seed­ing can improve crop pro­duc­tiv­i­ty.
Adapt­abil­i­ty. Drone seed­ing can be used for var­i­ous types of crops and soil con­di­tions. It is also effec­tive on uneven or hard-to-access ter­rain.
Reduced soil impact. Com­pared to tra­di­tion­al sow­ing meth­ods, drone seed­ing helps pre­vent soil com­paction because drones do not need to phys­i­cal­ly move across the field.

To per­form drone seed­ing, spe­cial seed dis­per­sal devices are attached to the drone. Dur­ing flight over the field, the drone even­ly dis­trib­utes seeds accord­ing to pre­de­fined para­me­ters such as seed­ing den­si­ty, crop type, and soil char­ac­ter­is­tics.

Although drone seed­ing is con­sid­ered a promis­ing solu­tion in mine site recla­ma­tion, its appli­ca­tion may depend on sev­er­al fac­tors, such as the cost of drones and relat­ed equip­ment, the lev­el of skills required for main­te­nance and soft­ware oper­a­tion, as well as reg­u­la­tions and rules gov­ern­ing the use of unmanned aer­i­al vehi­cles in a spe­cif­ic coun­try or region. How­ev­er, with ongo­ing tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments and decreas­ing costs of drones, drone seed­ing may become an increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar and wide­ly used method for sow­ing in future reclaimed fields and pas­tures.

Hydrophilic gels

In the field of soil rein­force­ment, hydrophilic gels are used to sta­bi­lize and improve the mechan­i­cal prop­er­ties of soil cov­er. These gels are typ­i­cal­ly applied as solu­tions or gel matri­ces that are spread over the soil sur­face or inject­ed into its deep­er lay­ers. After con­tact with soil mois­ture, the gels acquire a gel-like con­sis­ten­cy and form a long-last­ing pro­tec­tive lay­er around soil par­ti­cles.

The main advan­tages of using hydrophilic gels for soil sta­bi­liza­tion include:
Hydrophilic gels can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve soil strength by form­ing a sta­ble struc­ture around soil par­ti­cles and pre­vent­ing their break­down under the influ­ence of water and oth­er neg­a­tive fac­tors.
The appli­ca­tion of hydrophilic gels helps pre­vent soil ero­sion, espe­cial­ly on steep slopes and in areas with increased water impact.
The gels pro­mote the for­ma­tion of a bar­ri­er lay­er that pre­vents deep water infil­tra­tion, there­by reduc­ing the risk of sur­face water­log­ging and flood­ing.
Hydrophilic gels are gen­er­al­ly envi­ron­men­tal­ly safe mate­ri­als that do not have a harm­ful impact on soil flo­ra and fau­na.

Hydrophilic gels can be applied using dif­fer­ent meth­ods depend­ing on the spe­cif­ic project, soil type, and sta­bi­liza­tion objec­tives. The main appli­ca­tion meth­ods include:
Injec­tion, which allows the gel to be intro­duced into deep­er soil lay­ers. Spe­cial pumps and equip­ment dis­trib­ute the hydrophilic gel as a solu­tion or gel matrix direct­ly into the soil. This method is espe­cial­ly effec­tive for slope sta­bi­liza­tion, where long-term ero­sion pro­tec­tion is required.
Sur­face spray­ing using sprayers that dis­trib­ute the gel even­ly over the soil sur­face. This method is wide­ly used in areas fre­quent­ly exposed to sur­face ero­sion.
Mix­ing with soil before sow­ing or plant­i­ng veg­e­ta­tion. This improves soil mois­ture reten­tion and ensures more uni­form water dis­tri­b­u­tion.

The use of hydrophilic gels in agri­cul­ture, con­struc­tion, and envi­ron­men­tal projects can help improve soil sta­bil­i­ty, pro­tect it from degra­da­tion, and ensure effi­cient use of water resources. How­ev­er, before apply­ing hydrophilic gels, it is impor­tant to con­sid­er the spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics of the soil, cli­mat­ic con­di­tions, and project require­ments in order to ensure max­i­mum effec­tive­ness and long-term sta­bil­i­ty of soil rein­force­ment.