Nielsen, Guillaume

[T]his report explores a hybrid-applied solution: the use of saturated covers, which involve lifting an elevated water table into a tailing impoundment that maintains saturation within the tailing profile without allowing excess water directly along the surface of the embankment. The objective of this project is to evaluate the efficacy of saturated covers in Northern regions by testing oxygen diffusion in a series of experiments with two levels of saturation using an instrumented column. While there has been some research detailing the beneficial use of saturated covers, such as in the Oxygen diffusion in saturated covers methodology and literature review (Gagne Turcotte et al., 2020) completed prior to this lab scale study, the methodology used within this study relied heavily on prediction variables/models: De and Kr, but these proved to be more complicated than expected (Gagne Turcotte et al., 2020). Additionally, mine tailings by nature are rather unique and each sample of tailings has its own unique characteristics that need to be accounted for. Thus, the creation of this methodology occurred, with a specific emphasis on applied methods.--from Introduction

The mine life cycle, from exploration to mine closure can be fast-paced and volatile, therefore careful consideration should be given to remediation planning of mine sites. Ensuring strategies are developed which are both cost effective, and appropriate to the climate and biome of which the mine site is located, are essential. Of particular concern to gold-mining operations in Northern climates are waste by-products of cyanide degradation; metal leaching (ML) and acid mine drainage (AMD); and extreme cold conditions which have potential to hamper biological processes involved in bioremediation methods.