Bioremediation research project: 2013 results

The purpose of this document is to report the results of the Bioremediation Project conducted by the Industrial Research Chair in Mine Life Cycle at Yukon College, between February 2013 to January 2014, to the industrial partners Alexco Resource Group, Capstone Mining Corp, Victoria Gold Corp and Yukon Zinc Corp. Passive water treatment has been identified as one of the areas of focus by the four partners who likely plan to use some sort of biological passive treatment systems at closure (closure plans of Minto, Wolverine, Bellekeno, and likely Eagle Gold) or during operation (Wolverine Mine, possibly Eagle Gold) whether this is wetlands, anaerobic bioreactors, electro-biochemical reactor or a combination of these techniques. Using passive biological treatment at mines in the North can be challenging due to the regulators lacking confidence in this type of technology due to limited Northern operational experience in applying these systems. A common concern relates to the efficiency of biological systems at cold temperature. To address that particular issue, research was conducted through the Chair program, starting in January 2013, to assess and compare different substrates for their potential to support bioreactor efficiencies." -- p.3