M.L. Stratton, Manatee Community College

Florida's 1975 Mandatory Mine Reclamation Act requires phosphate companies restore the land they disturb.  Mandatory Phosphate Reclamation Rules also require reclamation, through initial revegetation, be completed within 2 years of completion of mining operations. 

Unamended mine soils typically exhibit poor soil structure, are prone to compaction, has low organic matter content and lacks microbial activity needed to initiate nutrient cycling.  Use of harvested wetland topsoil has been adopted by the phosphate industry and regulatory agencies to enhance mine soils and accelerate the succession process of created wetlands. Upland topsoiling is also recommended by the FDEP-Bureau of Mine Reclamation, especially for creation of pine flatwood habitats. Upland topsoil can be a source of organic matter, nutrients, soil microbes/mycorrhizae, native groundcover seeds and native shrub seeds.  However, topsoiling for upland revegetation is more limited relative to wetlands, primarily due to the large acreages involved, lack of donor sites and associated high costs. The cost of topsoiling is a function of hauling distance, soil volume spread and stockpiling requirement. 

In this paper results of a State-funded Innovative Recycling Grant Project will be presented.  In this study, the benefit of using ground urban yard debris (yard waste) to extend/enhance available pine flatwoods topsoil at Cargill Fertilizer's South Ft. Meade Mine is evaluated.

For many years, regulatory agencies, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Bureau of Mine Reclamation (BMR) have been advocating the use of native plants in the establishment of groundcover on reclaimed land. Field implementation of this practice has been hindered by the lack of commercially available sources of seed and planting material for native groundcover.  The dearth of planting material is particularly acute for native grasses.  To date, many of the attempts to establish native groundcover have proven to be either cost-prohibitive or technically infeasible. 

The BMR recently obtained funding for the reclamation of a 107-acre nonmandatory program adjacent to the Homeland Field Office.  The reclamation plan for this program calls for native groundcover, including grasses, to be used in the revegetation of this program, to the greatest extent practical.  The need for field quantities of native grass planting material for this project was the driving force behind the establishment of the BMR’s nursery at Homeland.  The BMR has worked cooperatively with both the National Resource Conservation Service Plant Materials Center in Brooksville and the Range Cattle Research and Education Center at Ona.  Native grass plant material has been obtained from both of these sources as well as some field locations in the area.  The BMR’s goal is to work towards developing practical and economically feasible methods of propagating native groundcover. The presentation will summarize the BMR’s experience to date.  

Green World Science Inc. (GWS) specializes in providing innovative environmental solutions utilizing its patented proprietary technology, in a variety of industries ranging from Mining to Food and Chemicals. During its five-year history, GWS has earned a reputation of employing advanced technologies offering significant savings over conventional treatment methods. GWS headquarters is in Boise, Idaho. The technology was originally developed and tested by J.R. Simplot Company at the wet acid plant gypsum disposal stacks at the Don Plant in Pocatello, Idaho. The initial development proved to be a success by treatment of the Gyp Stack Plume, a contaminated body of water below the stacks and in the surrounding area, that was near to causing a forced shutdown of the subject gyp stacks by Idaho environmental regulators. 

GWS owns three patents and has four additional patents pending relative to in-situ use of nutrients in earthen materials such as heap leaches in the mining industry, waste and spoils in coal, precious metals, copper, uranium and phosphate industry wastes. The technology is also used for wastewater treatment with additives fed to wetlands, drainage areas, ponds and lakes. The treatment applies to both surface and groundwater. Cyanide, nitrate, sulfate, ammonia (ammonium ion), as well as a suite of solubilized metals are removed or immobilized in-situ by microorganisms able to perform certain transformations. 

Florida Engineering and Design Inc. (FED) has an agreement for marketing GWS technology in Canada, Eastern USA, Central & South America and the Caribbean. We are currently offering the technology to the Florida Phosphate Industry with a pending application for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding of a demonstration project. 

The two measures of success in metal containment and stabilization are a lowered concentration of metal in the exiting solutions and a decrease in the rate of metal peak movement and elution from the soil column. Metals of interest to this technology include arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, mercury, selenium and uranium. The reduction of these metals in an industrial effluent has been achieved to the level of the National Drinking Water Standard (NDWS). Significant reductions of nitrate and sulfate anions have also been achieved by the addition of nutrients to enhance bacterial growth in soils underlying a stack. The nitrate ion is biologically reduced and eliminated from the system prior to the initiation of sulfate bioreduction. Ammonia (ammonium ion) is also reduced by bacteria activity with the necessary addition of organic carbon supply and an extended reaction zone. 

GWS has successfully treated multiple rock heaps, totaling over 70 million tons, as well as 1.35 billion gallons of water in ponds, lakes, and drainages associated with mining operations. Proper nutrient addition to these systems promotes the formation of anaerobic conditions resulting in the removal of metals resulting in clean water from the drainage. The nutrients include proprietary mixtures of agricultural commodities and therefore provide an economical solution for the client.

GWS technology offers an exciting alternative for mine operators and other potential users who up to this point has been limited to chemical treatments for waste dumps / stacks, ponds and groundwater contamination. It is a proven technology that offers substantial savings, particularly when compared to the cost of liners for ponds and stacks that are currently required to provide groundwater protection.