Layered Co-Mingling for the Construction of Waste Rock Piles as a Method to Mitigate Acid Mine Drainage - Laboratory Investigations

Lamontagne, A. ; Fortin, S. ; Poulin, R. ; Tassé, N. ; Lefebvre, R.
Organization: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration
Pages: 10
Publication Date: Jan 1, 2000
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This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation aiming to verify the concept of co-mingling of waste rock with layers of compacted tailings. Overall, co-mingling is expected to delay the onset and reduce the magnitude of acid mine drainage (AMD) production in waste rock. To denionstrate the efficiency of the method proposed, five different column tests have been set-up. Columns were fed with deionized water at the top and drainage waters were collected and analyzed. Bacteria counts were done on the tailings and waste rock after the column tests. Permeability in saturated conditions and capillary parameters were measured for the tailings. The results obtained show that the co-mingling method would be effective in mitigating AMD by maintaining nearly water-saturated conditions in compacted tailings, thus reducing oxygen supply in waste rock by preventing thermal air convection and minimizing oxygen advection and diffusion.
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