Abstract:

Exposure of sulfide bearing mine waste to atmospheric conditions and meteoric water can result in acid rock drainage and metal leaching, which is a global environmental concern. Understanding the conditions and outcomes of mine waste weathering has large impacts on mine waste management facilities including their design, management, and cost. Humidity cells are a standardized method to evaluate primary kinetic weathering, yet do not typically represent site conditions and can be difficult to relate to field scale. Instrumented leach columns (LCs) allow flexibility in laboratory column weathering by defining air flow and precipitation events within the columns to simulate site specific conditions. The flexibility to simulate multiple conditions allows for more representative knowledge of mine waste weathering and can be used to test different waste management designs. As a larger scale laboratory kinetic test, LCs can provide more representative analysis than traditional kinetic analysis, like the humidity cell tests. The material sourcing and construction of the LCs and humidity cells are discussed. Early geochemical results are presented from humidity cell tests and instrumented leach columns on waste rock material from a development-stage uranium project in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

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Laura Smith