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Predicting Geochemical Behaviour of Waste Rock with Low Acid Generating Potential Using Laboratory Kinetic Tests

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Abstract

Prediction of contaminated neutral drainage using laboratory kinetic tests designed for acid mine drainage prediction is challenging because of the low metal concentrations generated by low sulfide oxidation rates. Fresh and weathered samples from the Tio mine waste rock piles were submitted to humidity cell tests. The waste rocks were demonstrated to be non-acid generating in the long term, as interpreted by conservative oxidation-neutralization curves. The results demonstrate that even though the main neutralizing minerals react differently after 25 years of natural weathering (with regard to Ca, Mg, Al, and Si release), the response of the fresh waste rocks during humidity cell leaching was very similar to those of the weathered waste rocks, when considering all the elements related to silicate dissolution, including those implicated in secondary phase precipitation. However, Ni generation was greater in the weathered waste rocks even though sulfide oxidation rates were similar, as Ni sorption properties reach saturation. Although the Ni concentrations from the leachates of humidity cell tests remain below regulated values, they are bound to increase with continued weathering if no preventive or control measures are undertaken at the site.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the NSERC Polytechnique-UQAT Chair in Environment and Mine Wastes Management and the NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants for funding this project. The authors also thank Donald Laflamme of Rio Tinto, Iron and Titanium, Inc., for the funding and constant support of this project, as well as Genevieve Pepin for providing samples and insight. Alain Perreault, Mélanie Bélanger, and Mathieu Villeneuve of URSTM, UQAT are also acknowledged for their laboratory support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), 445 boul de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, J9X 5E4, QC, Canada

    B. Plante, M. Benzaazoua & B. Bussière

  2. Industrial NSERC-Polytechnique-UQAT Chair in Environment and Mine Waste Management, UQAT, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada

    B. Plante, M. Benzaazoua & B. Bussière

  3. Canada Research Chair on Integrated Management of Mine Waste, UQAT, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada

    M. Benzaazoua

  4. Canada Research Chair on the Restoration of Abandoned Mine Sites, UQAT, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada

    B. Bussière

Authors
  1. B. Plante
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  2. M. Benzaazoua
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  3. B. Bussière
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Plante.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10230_2010_127_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Online Supplementary Figure 1. Saturation indexes of secondary minerals throughout C1 (a) and C6 (b) humidity cell flushes (PDF 79 kb)

10230_2010_127_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Online Supplementary Figure 2. Eh–pH diagram in typical conditions of the C6 humidity cell flush for Ni (a), Al (b), and sulfate (c) (modeled on JCHESS with 0.023 mg/L Al, 1.28 mg/L Ca, 0.304 mg/L Mg, 0.007 mg/L Ni, 1.88 mg/L SO4, 4.65 mg/L Si) (PDF 76 kb)

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Plante, B., Benzaazoua, M. & Bussière, B. Predicting Geochemical Behaviour of Waste Rock with Low Acid Generating Potential Using Laboratory Kinetic Tests. Mine Water Environ 30, 2–21 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-010-0127-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-010-0127-z

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