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Improving Management of Potentially Acid Generating Waste Rock

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Abstract

Managing the appropriate disposition of waste rock is a critical function of hard rock mining given the propensity of some materials to be acid-generating and the increasing environmental stewardship role of the mining industry. At most Newmont Mining Corporation mine sites, the net carbonate value (NCV) classification is used to partition mine waste according to acid generating potential; these are often further segregated into seven material types ranging from ‘highly acidic’ to ‘highly basic’. Although the NCV classification is generally a good predictor of acid-generating potential, humidity cell test (HCT) results for the NCV types ‘slightly basic’ and ‘inert/neutral’ were occasionally anomalous compared to the anticipated NCV-based acid-generating potential because acid generated by soluble aluminum and iron sulfates was not accounted for in the NCV test. This study was undertaken to develop an improved waste rock acid estimator using a battery of tests and to develop appropriate termination criteria for HCTs used to determine the potential for acid generation by waste rock. The HCTs were assessed for net alkalinity, pH, a molar ratio of (Ca + Mg/sulfate), and carbonate dissolution versus pyrite oxidation rates for HCTs over the 20 week period and/or the HCT forecast after 20 weeks. The results of HCTs compared with a combination of NCV, paste pH, and net acid generation (NAG) pH represents a simple tool to enhance screening run-of-mine waste for disposition to an appropriate storage location.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Paul Pettit, Ronald Clarke, Steve Grusing, and Nathan Bennett from Newmont Mining Corporation for providing us with data, insight, information, and advice. We thank Dr. Ted Eary for handling the manuscript, and W.W. White III and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments, which greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geomega Inc., 2525 28th Str, Suite 200, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA

    Maggy F. Lengke & Andy Davis

  2. Newmont Metallurgical Services, 10101 East Dry Creek Rd, Englewood, CO, 80112, USA

    Charles Bucknam

Authors
  1. Maggy F. Lengke
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  2. Andy Davis
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  3. Charles Bucknam
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Correspondence to Andy Davis.

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Lengke, M.F., Davis, A. & Bucknam, C. Improving Management of Potentially Acid Generating Waste Rock. Mine Water Environ 29, 29–44 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-009-0097-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-009-0097-1

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