Mobilization and attenuation of heavy metals within a nickel mine tailings impoundment near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

McGregor, Rick; Blowes, David W.; Jambor, John L.; Robertson, W. D.

doi:10.1007/s002540050346

Cited by 63 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It should be noted here that with 50% of the tailings particles finer than 0.12 mm diameter (D 50 of 0.12 mm), the selected tailings material may appear quite coarse; however, this is not unusual for copper tailings (Vick 1990). Such coarse tailings are also representative of the material stored at the Sudbury tailings management facility as shown by Shaw et al (1998) and McGregor et al (1998). Additionally, in their study on tailings resuspension, Adu-Wusu et al (2001) used uranium tailings from the Quirke tailings pond at Elliot Lake, Northern Ontario, for which they reported a D 50 between 0.10 and 0.17 mm at 7 out of the 9 tailings sampling stations.…”

Section: Tailings Beds Preparationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Undrained Strength of Deposited Mine Tailings Beds: Effect of Water Content, Effective Stress and Time of Consolidation

Dimitrova¹,

Yanful²

2011

Geotech Geol Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An understanding of the geotechnical behaviour of mine tailings is imperative when evaluating the stability and erosional resistance of sedimented tailings beds; as well as for the design and long-term management of tailings disposal facilities. Laboratory testing was conducted on mine tailings beds of various ages and thicknesses, deposited from concentrated slurries. Measured index properties allowed classifying the tailings as a coarse grained and non-cohesive material. The results obtained from the performed sedimentation experiments showed that the primary consolidation of the tailings beds was complete in approximately 1 h and negligible volume changes occurred in the beds during secondary compression. The undrained shear strength of the tailings beds was measured using an automated fall cone device at a depth interval of 1 cm and a profile of the shear strength variation with depth was obtained. At each tested surface, moisture content specimens were taken to determine the moisture content profile of the tested tailings beds. The undrained shear strength of the beds varied between 0.008 and 0.975 kPa for effective stresses below 1.19 kPa and increased with depth. Correspondingly, the moisture content decreased with depth and varied between 17 and 27%. The factor controlling the undrained shear strength of the tested beds was the vertical effective stress, with the water content also having some secondary effect. The correlation between the undrained shear strength and the vertical effective stress was expressed with a second order polynomial function. Consolidation time did not appear to influence the observed shear strength.

show abstract

Section: Tailings Beds Preparationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Undrained Strength of Deposited Mine Tailings Beds: Effect of Water Content, Effective Stress and Time of Consolidation

Dimitrova¹,

Yanful²

2011

Geotech Geol Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…depths of 1-1.5 m; (Moncur et al, 2002;Gieré, Sidenko and Lazareva, 2003)) of large tailings deposits. Tailings particles in the hardpans are often cemented with gypsum, goethite, and other minerals that are insoluble or only partially soluble in water (McGregor and Blowes, 2002;McGregor et al, 1998b). Hardpans may also be important in directing the flow of water and controlling the oxidation and leaching of arsenic and other contaminants in the tailings.…”

Section: Behavior Of Arsenic Within Mining Wastesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arsenic in Natural Environments

Henke

2009

Arsenic

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In addition, distilled water extracts from these 404 tailings indicated that the extractions were saturated to 405 supersaturated with calcite, dolomite, gypsum, jarosite, and 406 iron oxyhydroxides (Navarro et al 2004). Pore water sat-407 uration, with respect to jarosite, natrojarosite, and gypsum 408 McGregor et al 1998), and the possible 409 mobilization of metals from oxyhydroxides and sulfates, 410 have been detected in other tailings areas. Ribet et al 411 (1995) and Jurjovec et al (2002) respectively showed that 412 tailings Fe(III) oxyhydroxides were the source of Fe, Ni, 413 Cu, Cr, and Co, and Zn, Ni, Co, Pb, and Cd.…”

Section: U N C O R R E C T E D P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Metal Attenuation from Mine Tailings in SE Spain (Sierra Almagrera): A Soil-Leaching Column Study

Flores

Sola

2010

Mine Water Environ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

7 Abstract A laboratory study was undertaken using mine 8 tailings and soil columns to evaluate some of the natural 9 processes that can control the mobility of metals at Pb-Ag 10 mine tailings impoundments. The effects of buffering, pH, 11 and salinity were examined with tailings from the El Arteal 12 deposit. Al, Ba, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn were 13 mobilized when the tailings were leached. However, when 14 the mine tailings were placed above alluvial soils, Al, Ba, 15 Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn were retained, although Fe and Sr 16 clearly remained mobile. Most of the metal retention 17 appears to be associated with the increase in pH caused by 18 calcite dissolution. The sorption of some metals (Cu, Pb, 19 and Zn) onto oxyhydroxides of Fe and Mn, sulphates, clay 20 materials, and organic matter may also explain the removal 21 of these metals from the leachate. 22 23

show abstract

Mobilization and attenuation of heavy metals within a nickel mine tailings impoundment near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Cited by 63 publications

References 19 publications

Undrained Strength of Deposited Mine Tailings Beds: Effect of Water Content, Effective Stress and Time of Consolidation

Undrained Strength of Deposited Mine Tailings Beds: Effect of Water Content, Effective Stress and Time of Consolidation

Arsenic in Natural Environments

Evaluation of Metal Attenuation from Mine Tailings in SE Spain (Sierra Almagrera): A Soil-Leaching Column Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About