Water Movement Caused by Monsoonal Rainfall in an Overburden Dump Undergoing Pyritic Oxidation

Abstract

Rum Jungle, situated some 90 km south of Darwin, is reasonably well-known as a uranium mine that operated during the uranium boom of the fifties. Mining operations started in 1953 and carried through to 1971 when the mine was abandoned. Rum Jungle is also reasonably well-known as a mining operation which has had a marked impact on its environment. The major impact has been on the East Branch of the Finniss Fiver, which flows through the mine site, and on the areas alongside the overburden dumps. This impact stemmed from the high concentration of heavy metals such as copper, manganese and zinc in the water flowing from these dumps, and other areas of the abandoned mine, into the East Finniss. The major sources of pollution (Davy, 1975a) are the overburden dumps and a dump of low grade copper ore from which extraction of the copper by a heap leaching technique was attempted.