Abstract
The increasing climate change, growing population and
exhaustion of natural reserves from mining and related operations have
led to severe environmental challenges. It is a known fact that acid
mine drainage (AMD) from mining activities in South Africa,
constitute massive environmental issues in need of drastic solutions.
AMD poses a huge risk which needs prompt mitigating measures for
curbing consequential effects on soil, surface, subsurface and
groundwater resources, which invariably impacts human and
environmental health. However, the present persistent challenges from
AMD paved way for this study to assess the material properties
initiated in the study for three subtropical clayey soils interacted with
AMD towards ascertaining their mineral buffering efficacy for use as
natural containment liners in areas affected by AMD. Series of
prolonged pore volume passage of AMD through the respective soil
system were undertaken and vital tests as prelude to further
investigations and analysis served as a gateway to more intricate
interpretations for succeeding studies. In a nutshell, the general
outcome fell short of the accepted criterion specified for clay liner
construction in South Africa but may considerably be utilized as a
natural material in the construction of composite barriers for acidproducing
wastes.