Climate-driven mobilization of contaminants from mine wastes and tailings: Pathways, monitoring, modelling, and climate-adaptive mitigation - A review

Mining generates large volumes of waste rock and tailings that can remain chemically reactive for decades, continuing to affect water, soil, and surrounding ecosystems well beyond mine closure. A critical emerging question is how climate variability alters the timing, intensity, and pathways of contaminant release from these systems. Evidence from field investigations and long-term monitoring indicates that climate extremes can significantly modify the geochemical and hydrological processes governing contaminant generation and mobility. Intense rainfall and flooding increase hydrological connectivity and promote erosion, seepage, and downstream transport of contaminants. In contrast, prolonged drought followed by rewetting accelerates sulfide oxidation and destabilizes secondary mineral phases, thereby promoting contaminant release. Rising temperatures further enhance reaction kinetics and microbial activity, whereas freeze-thaw cycles can physically disrupt waste structures and mobilize stored contaminants. These processes often produce short-duration but high-magnitude contaminant fluxes that are not captured by conventional steady-state assessments. Once mobilized, contaminants may be redistributed through interacting atmospheric, surface-water, and groundwater pathways, sometimes resulting in delayed downstream impacts. Overall, available evidence indicates that current mine waste management frameworks frequently underestimate climate-driven risks. Strengthening resilience, therefore, requires monitoring approaches that capture episodic events, improved integration of climate, hydrological, and geochemical modelling, and adaptive mitigation strategies combining engineered controls with nature-based and circular approaches for mine waste management. Take-Home Messages • Rapid mining expansion generates large volumes of complex mine wastes and associated pollution risks. • Acid mine drainage remains a major driver of long-term environmental impacts. • Climate change increases contaminant mobility and the risk of tailings-facility failures. • AI, remote sensing, and modelling support climate-risk prediction in mining. • Nature-based solutions and carbon-capture technologies enhance mine waste resilience.