Methods of solid waste storage in opencast mines: field application; storage of Soda Sanayi A.Ş. process waste in Karadiken Limestone Quarry

It is known that nowadays sanitary landfill of solid waste causes important problems. It is gradually becoming common for opencast mines whose useful economic lives have been finished to be used for solid waste storage and this method that has been applied in the world for 50 years has also been common in Turkey during the last 20 years. The first application of storage of plants' waste products in old mines in Adana and vicinity is the storage of Kromsan's waste products in a plaster stone mine field with depleted ore, near Yenice after the necessary arrangements. In this study, the storage method used for filling the volumes in the Karadiken Limestone Quarry field with a similar application after the necessary arrangements was examined. As stated in the provisions of Regulation for Sanitary Landfill of Wastes, the analyses of waste products of soda ash production were done in accredited laboratories and it was seen that the waste is categorized as nonhazardous waste according to the eluate analysis results. According to these results, waste of soda ash production by Soda A.Ş. needs to be stored in compliance with the 2nd Class Sanitary Landfill Field criteria stated in the 5th Article of the 2nd Chapter of the relevant regulation. Continuing the storage process by sealing the old bench volumes simultaneously while carrying on production in the Karadiken Limestone Quarry is a new method that is the subject of this study. The methods used during the application were examined step by step and it is adopted that this application, which is assumed to be new, serve as an example for similar opencast mine.