Olaf Schuiling has addressed such possibilities. Alkaline Kimberlite tailings might have dual use as soil acidity amendment and carbon dioxide reactant.
Similar Olivine lamproites contain lots of potassium, and could serve triple uses as potassium fertilizer as well as soil acidity amendment and carbon dioxide reactant.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberlite Brian On Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 1:40:34 AM UTC-4, Andrew Lockley wrote: > > Poster's note : first I'm aware of for EW CDR deployment at scale using > mine tailings > > > > https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-03/de-beers-studies-soaking-up-carbon-into-diamond-mine-waste-rock > > > <http://bloom.bg/dg-ws-core-bcom-a1> > De Beers Says It Could Operate Carbon-Neutral Mine Within Half a Decadeby > Kevin Crowley > 2017 M05 4 00:01 GMT+12017 M05 4 08:18 GMT+1 > From > <https://www.bloomberg.com/climate-changed> > > - Diamond miner says kimberlite has ‘ideal’ properties > - Company is studying potential at Venetia in South Africa > > De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer by value, says it could > operate a carbon-neutral mine within half a decade. > > The Anglo American Plc unit plans to store carbon-dioxide in kimberlite > rock -- a type of ore best known for containing diamonds, but which also > naturally reacts with carbon to remove it from the atmosphere. By > accelerating that process and using readily available waste rock, De Beers > could offset the emissions from its mines, according to Evelyn Mervine, > who’s leading the research project for the company. > > Voorspoed diamond mine. > Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg > > While mineral carbonation isn’t a new idea, kimberlite offers ideal > properties for storing very large volumes of carbon, Mervine said. De Beers > has vast amounts of previously mined waste rock stored in so-called > tailings dams above ground at its mines. Depending on how the research > progresses, De Beers could eventually offset more emissions than it > produces, she said. > > “There will be key learnings from this that can be used in larger bodies > of rock that can be found throughout the world,” she said. > > De Beers is looking at removing carbon dioxide from power generators at > its mines by piping the gas through a fluid that can then be injected into > the kimberlite waste rock and stored safely, Mervine said. It’s also > studying the potential to spread waste rock more thinly to increase carbon > extraction from the atmosphere. > > Carbon capture and storage is seen as key to tackling climate change, by > removing pollution from the atmosphere that would otherwise be spewed out > by power generators and industry. Yet progress in developing the technology > has been slow and expensive. > > Kimberlite rock at the De Beers lab in Johannesburg. > Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg > > De Beers estimates it could achieve carbon-neutral status at some > operations within five to 10 years and is already studying the > possibilities at its Venetia mine in South Africa and Gahcho Kue in Canada. > The potential for storage at historic tailings at Debswana in Botswana will > also be assessed, Mervine said. > > Each mine has the potential to offset 10 times its annual emissions using > its on-site tailings, she said > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
