Faiza Tehseen

Pakistan can save millions by applying green chemistry (GC) practices in the mining operations, processing, and value addition, Muhammad Yaqub Shah, Principal Geologist at Islamabad-based Global Mining Company told WealthPK. “GC not only reduces the operational and mining closure costs, but it is also source-efficient, sustainable, eco-friendly, and enhances the safety of mining workers. It decreases the waste quantity and enhances the recovery of valuable minerals and metals from the mined ores,” he said. Yaqub shared with WealthPK that GC eliminates hazardous substances and processes in the mining operations caused by the use of toxic chemicals during mining, ore processing, or its value addition, i.e., the use of non-toxic solvents rather than toxic chemicals, i.e., mercury and cyanide are common examples in the processing of different types of mineral ores. New and innovative techniques, i.e., biomineralization, and bioremediation, are the best, safest, and eco-friendly alternatives that can be adopted to process the mineral ores. According to Yaqub, gold and silver producers mostly rely on cyanidation to extract the maximum yield of valuable metals from the mined ores, but this process is highly detrimental to both human health and environment.

Compared with this, greener agents, e.g., “thiourea” or “thiosulfate” are less hazardous than cyanide, but the yield is low. He further said some strategies could be adopted in the greener mineral processing, e.g., ultrasound to eliminate passivating layers, and chemical pre-treatment to eliminate the possible passivation sources. Continuing, Yaqub said GC was energy-efficient and very practical in minimizing the production of waste during grinding and crushing, which helped reduce the energy use, waste disposal, water management and treatment costs, and regulatory compliance costs in case of buying toxic chemicals used in mining, potential fines and legal costs related to non-compliance, mine closure, and other associated costs. “The government must enforce the GC application in all mining operations. The establishment of a principal body is important to assess the detailed economic analysis and feasibility study. It will help evaluate the economic benefits of adopting GC in mining,” he said. The collaboration of academic institutions with the government agencies is also important to popularize the concept of GC in all industrial aspects, especially the mining sector, and for local capacity building, added Yaqub.

Credit: INP-WealthPk