Coal mining has been occurring in the United States for nearly two hundred years. Prior to the passage of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), there was no regulatory oversight over coal mining activities and what happened to those mine sites once mining stopped. With the passage of SMCRA, states and tribes are given abandoned mined land reclamation grants, generated by active mining production.

Marshal Equipment, Richardson Coal Company and Beecher Williams No. 1, were three different abandoned coal mined sites, located in Saline County, within the drainage basin of the South Fork of the Saline River, in southern Illinois and eligible for reclamation, under SMCRA, by the Abandoned Mined Land Reclamation Division (AMLRD), in the state of Illinois.

All three abandoned mined sites were contour surface mined, with some auger mining also occurring, to remove the number two coal, known as the Davis/Dekoven coal seam, at a depth varying from 1,5 to 35 meters. These three coal mine sites were in operation from the early 1950s to the early 1960s.

These sites had acid mine drainage seeps, with average flows of under approximately 40 liters per minute. While the seeps have low water flows, the water chemistry of the Davis/Dekoven seam has proven to be extremely destructive. This seam produces highly acidic seepage, with high iron and aluminum concentrations, proving to be challenging to treat with traditional passive treatment. A Lime Compost Drain (LCD) consists of a two-layer system, separated by filter fabric, with the bottom most layer containing 7,6 centimeter, coarse aggregate, with a minimum thickness of 0,3 meters, followed by another 0,3 meter layer, of a well-blended layer that consist of 50% compost, 50% of, 2,5 centimeters, coarse aggregate mixture. Both layers vary in width, depending on the flow and slight variation on the water chemistry at each site. Both layers are then draped by a polyethylene liner, followed by carefully placed backfill material.

The main concept of the LCD is to create a low oxygen alkaline drain through which acid seepage is directed, with any oxygen present being consumed by the slow degradation of the mulch. Keeping the drain composition as anoxic as possible, preventing the iron from precipitating out, minimizing coating of the high alkalinity coarse aggregate. This LCD system was constructed on all three sites with great improvement to chemistry of the coal acid mine drainage discharging from the constructed LCD.

Coal mining generates coal mine waste rock (CMWR), which can pose environmental risks like acid mine drainage (AMD), contaminated neutral drainage (CND), or saline drainage, depending on pH and metal(loids) concentration. The Jerada T08 CMWR pile, deposited over 50 years, exemplifies this issue. To assess its environmental impact, a geo-environmental characterization was conducted, leading to a 3D model establishment highlighting zones prone to acidity. Results identified 3.8 Mt of potentially acid-forming (PAF) materials, distributed heterogeneously mainly in highly oxidized upper zones. This approach enhances management strategies, reducing costs by enabling targeted mitigation and minimizing expensive remediation efforts.

This study evaluates the environmental quality of river water and sediments in the Caudal River basin (NW Spain), historically affected by Hg and Cu mining. Initial sampling revealed high metal(oid) concentrations, especially downstream of former Hg mines. A second campaign used DGT (Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films) passive samplers to assess bioavailable fractions at selected points. Results showed a strong correlation between As and Cu in DGT and pore water, with As showing up to 75% transfer at low concentrations, indicating its nearly fully bioavailable chemical form. This highlights the usefulness of DGT samplers for determining bioavailability.