ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF CRITICAL MINERAL EXTRACTION FROM LEGACY MINE WASTE: A MULTI-SITE ANALYSIS IN OKLAHOMA

Legacy mining sites across the Midwest have possible modern economic value, one site of interest is the Southwest Davis Zinc Fields, an area mined from the 1890’s until the early 1920’s producing very little ore, but at high grades. An additional site, Picher, Oklahoma was a major mining town in the Tri-State mining district and was once the site of the most prosperous lead/zinc mines that generated nearly 70% of the lead/zinc used for munitions by the United States during both world wars. The mining in this area ceased in the late 60’s to early 70’s due to declining ore grades along with the falling price of lead. The mining activity in the area left behind around 130 million tons of tailings, sludge and sand.

With the rising demand for critical minerals, reprocessing these waste piles could be a possible source of the minerals Zinc (Zn) and Germanium (Ge). Induced polarization (IP) and resistivity potential surveys will be used to determine areas of mineral concentration within the tailings of Picher, Oklahoma while X-ray diffraction scans running from a starting angle of 5° to 80° on a 103-minute interval coupled with X-ray luminescence running the RTC-W-220 (Woodford Fm.) standard will be implemented on a multi-site analysis between Picher and Davis, Oklahoma to determine any possible mineral concentrations and grades. Additionally, LA-ICP-MS will be used on samples from both locations to better constrain the age and formation conditions of Germanium in the minerals.