This article from Science of the Total Environment investigates the availability and fate of cyanide in gold mill solid tailings. To do this, tailings that were 6 to 9 years old and tailings that were 3 months old were sampled at various depths from two gold mining sites in Quebec, Canada. The study revealed a difference in physicochemical properties, cyanide concentration and speciation, viable bacterial populations and cyanide leaching behavior between aged and fresh solid mine tailings.
