CHARACTERIZATION AND RECLAMATION

OF HEAVY MINERAL SANDS MINE SOILS

IN THE VIRGINIA COASTAL PLAIN

INTRODUCTION
Heavy mineral sand deposits (Ti and Zr in ilmenite,
leucoxene, rutile and zircon) were identified in Virginia
and North Carolina in 1989. In 1997, Iluka Resources
Inc. began active mining of the 2000 ha Old Hickory
deposit which lies in Dinwiddie and Sussex Counties. The
heavy minerals are contained within the upper 5 to 20 m
of highly weathered Coastal Plain soils. Similar deposits
have been located and leased for future mining in
Greensville County, Virginia (Brink Deposit), and at
multiple locations in North Carolina. Therefore, the longterm area of potential disturbance is great. Much of the
recoverable mineralized area occurs under prime
farmlands - an important peanut, soybean, tobacco, and
cotton-producing region. Return of these lands to some
form of agricultural production is a priority for the mining
firm and the landowners. To date, mineral sands mines
have not been returned to row-crop agriculture anywhere
in the world, but successes have been noted in return to
pasture/hayland, wetland, native forests and heaths, and
pine plantations in both the USA and Australia.

Zenah Orndorff and W. Lee Daniels: Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
A typical setting
in the Old Hickory
area (prior to mining).
A typical highly
productive soil in the
Old Hickory area
(prior to mining).

tailings

Final grading with heavy

machinery significantly
compacts the soil.

slimes
Slurry pumped back
into pit.

Test pit: note segregation of

tailings from slimes.

The mining process creates new soils which are highly variable
(laterally and throughout the soil profile), are heavily
compacted, and are drastically different from the original soil.

A concentration of heavy
mineral sands is apparent
on the ground surface.

Research plots from the first pilot study in the mid1990s are shown below. Overall, crop yields were
reduced by about 20% relative to unmined control plots.
Amendment
100 Mg/ha Yardwaste Compost
effects were not
Deep Ripping
consistent from
400 kg/ha P
crop to crop.
8 Mg/ha Lime
Tobacco (1999). Overall yield
plus quality reduction was ~40%.

30 cm of Topsoil
over Ripped/Limed
Tailings/Slimes
Old
Hickory
Deposit

unmined

Since 1990 Virginia Tech has cooperated with Iluka

Mineral Resources Inc. and their predecessor (RGC Mineral
Sands Inc.) on a variety of environmental issues related to
the development of the Old Hickory heavy mineral
resource. Our agricultural soil reconstruction research
initially involved greenhouse experiments to explore plant
growth response to various mixes of tailings:slimes, which
led to development of preliminary reclamation strategies
for the return of the mined area to row-crop
productivity. Subsequently, an intensive mine soil
reconstruction experiment was installed over pilot-scale
mining pits to characterize and compare soil properties and
crop productivity on the reclaimed mine soils vs. directly
adjacent undisturbed soils. This field study also directly
compared productivity of reconstructed mine soils with and
without topsoil replacement.
Since mining was initiated in 1997 our efforts shifted to
mapping and characterizing chemical and physical soil
properties within reclaimed mining pits. This included
hundreds of auger observations of mine soil profiles in
various reclaimed pits and detailed soil profile descriptions
and classification of 13 backhoe pits. Water quality
monitoring was initiated in 2002 for one former mine pit
which received land-application of biosolids at higher than
agronomic rates under Virginia Department of Health
research provisions.

CURRENT RESEARCH:

THE MINING PROCESS

Knowledge of the mining process (to the right) is important
in understanding the characteristics, and reclamation
challenges, of these mine soils. Where topsoil is being
salvaged, existing vegetation is removed and the upper 15
cm of A horizon material is stockpiled. Mineral-enriched
weathered soil and underlying Coastal Plain sediments are
dry-excavated, mixed with water into a slurry and pumped
to the wet separation facility. The slurry is passed
through cyclones and seperatory spirals to concentrate the
heavy mineral sands. Clays and silts (slimes) are partially
dewatered and pumped with the quartz sands (tailings)
back to the reclamation pits. At varying times in the past,
slimes and tailings were pumped either combined or
separately to various excavation pits. Some pits were
backfilled with dominantly sandy tailings while others
received large volumes of slimes. This pits were left to
dewater (typically up to a year) until they could support
machinery. Once accessible, the surface contour was
graded with a bulldozer and areas of highly contrasting
materials were mixed to the best extent possible with
track loaders and dozers. Overall, the separation of
tailings from slimes in dewatering pits leads to significant
differences in soil texture, seasonal wetness and bearing
capacity across the reclamation surfaces, and the use of
heavy machinery during final grading significantly compacts
the subsoil.
Heavy mineral sands
Stockpile of the
concentrated in the
wet mill.

mined

PAST RESEARCH

THE CARRAWAY-WINN RECLAMATION RESEARCH FARM

THE CARRAWAY-WINN RECLAMATION RESEARCH FARM

THE FIRST CORN HARVEST (2005)
Corn was harvested with a combine equipped with a
yield monitor and GPS. A map of yield variation across
each strip is shown below. Yields were compared by
treatment, and compared relative to an unmined area.

Corn from row-crop plots

and from unmined plot.
Note shovel (4) for scale.

401: control

All plots are deep ripped and NPK

fertilized per annual soil testing.

Soil reconstruction treatments:

1. Control: Lime + Phosphorous
2. Topsoil over Lime + Phosphorous
3. Lime-stabilized biosolids: Conventional tillage
4. Lime-stabilized biosolids: Minimum tillage

403: biosolids,
no till

402: topsoil

404: biosolids,
conv till

Yields from the biolsolids plots (174 bu/ac) were significantly

higher than that of the control (136 cu/ac) and topsoil (61
bu/ac) plots. Yields from the unmined plots (224 bu/ac) were
highest, but could not be statistically compared.

In 2004, Iluka Mineral Resources Inc., Virginia Tech and

the Carraway-Winn family (local landowners) joined forces
to establish the Carraway-Winn Research Farm (CWRF).
The 97 acre farm, illustrated to the left, enables
comparison of different mine soil reconstruction strategies
for the return of mined lands to agricultural production.
Reconstruction treatments including topsoil replacement and
biosolids application are being evaluated for both row-crop
and pasture management systems. The relative
effectiveness of deep ripping/tillage treatments to
ameliorate adverse subsoil physical conditions also is being
studied. To enable comparisons of soil characteristics and
crop yields from the CWRF with that of un-mined soils, a
control area was delineated on the neighboring Clarke
family farm. In addition to these research plots, an entire
reclaimed tailings pit is being used to evaluate the growth
of different varieties of Bermuda grass.

Twelve groundwater wells, ranging in depth from 5 to 30

ft, have been established around the CWRF to monitor for
any impacts from reclamation treatments on groundwater
quality. Although elevated nitrate levels have been observed
in some of the shallower wells no other significant water
quality issues have been observed.

Acknowledgements

final product.

UNMINED

CSES personnel at work in the field at Iluka Mineral Resources Inc.

We thank Iluka Mineral Resources Inc. for their continued

support to improve mined land reclamation at Old Hickory. We
also thank Carl Clarke for managing the research farm, John
Tucker and Steve Bunch for assistance with revegetation
protocols, the Carraway-Winn family for use of their land, and
CSES personnel for their help in the field and lab.