Study of use of artificial topsoils created from mine wastes, powerplant waste and paper industry waste in mine rehabilitation

The coal mines in Latrobe Valley, Victoria have insufficient natural topsoils for their mine rehabilitation. The present study focuses on solving this problem by creating an artificial topsoil combining wastes from mines and power plant with the paper industry waste. The performance of this newly developed soils was assessed in terms of chemical stability, leachate quality and plant growth. Past work has investigated single additives to develop soils, but with only partial success. This work investigated combinations of additives to improve soil development and the results proved improved soil development and growth in artificial topsoils making it suitable for mine rehabilitation.