The Gibraltar Mine is a large open pit copper operation located north of Williams Lake , British Columbia. Acid rock drainage ~ARD) was first discovered on the property in 1982. Since this period all drainage has been collected and pumped to the concentrator for neutralization in the lime circuit. Copper is also recovered from some of the waste rock dumps using sulfuric acid leaching followed by solvent extraction and electrowinning. The Gibraltar North project is a new ore body being considered for development. An extensive program of testing and analysis was conducted to determine the potential of the waste from the project to produce ARD and to develop mitigative measures. The quantity of potentially acid generating material was estimated in two ways. First, statistics for acid base accounting (ABA) data were used to estimate the percentage of waste rock and ore that would likely be acid generating. Second, the location of a pyrite "halo" was mapped using visual pyrite estimates and assay results; a sulfur criterion was developed to separate blocks that were potentially acid-generating. Estimates of the quantity of potentially acid generating material from the two methods were different because the ABA data base under represented the quantity of waste rock in the upper benches and over represented the quantity of waste rock in the lower benches. Results highlighted the need for careful selection of samples in ARD testing programs. The potentially acid-generating zones on the pit walls were mapped using the location of the pyrite halo. In this way the quantity and location of potentially acid and non-acid-generating walls were identified. The Gibraltar North tailing exhibited a significantly higher potential to generate ARD compared to the current tailing.Additional Key Words: acid rock drainage (ARD), acid base accounting (ABA), acid-generation estimations, neutralizing potential, pyrite halo, sulfur plots, tailing acid generation, and pit wall acid generation.
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