over the embankment ‘The slide caused ore to spill
over the embankment’ - from latest press release. From minister of EM&R
If the retainment structure is somewhat intact and not totally gone that will be very good news, from the couple of pics out there, it looks like 70% failure. Hope I am wrong…feeling more likely that I am wrong because here is someone of importance who was saying or suggesting that. Nevertheless, a tonne of work to do there…
Posting this cut and past link again as it shows a lot of hidden detail…
Eagle Construction - Heap Leach Facility https://vgcx.com/investors/video-library/mine-construction/eagle-construction-heap-leach-facility/
were they stacking too high too close to the sump? The structures road running on top from the dore mill to the bend in the conveyor planned to be raised (the dam so to speak) in the near future due to the upcoming stacking phases? Or was that the finished height?
With the mining/crushing/stacking stopped, they have a lot of heavy equipment/people to keep working/utilized
Past posters:
- The post about being worse than mount polley is total BS… that tailings pond wiped out a swath of trees, the small lake in its path, emptied out into quesnel lake, some fines made it to the quesnel river - which was not too far away – past the city of quesnel and into the fraser
- Previous slide - Good find didn’t pay attention to it when it came out
- citizens living in the area – you mean the mine camp? Look at google earth and the vastness of that area. This mine is isolated and hopefully very dry over the next couple months. This company needs some, any type of luck to limp out of this missing only an arm, ear and some toes
- I think I saw a samskwatch on the way to the x-ray dept. today
- 2 million liters per hour? Where did you pull that from? For what duration
- stops were triggered yesterday - good point
- like flies on a fresh heap of Buffalo dung! Yup, now that I lowered my average I am pumping away J …good post
note:
my thoughts are from a different generation, safe(ty) has become a 4 letter word to me… same with the overreach of enviromuts – common sense yes and to pollute just cause you can is wrong. Look at how major rivers are treated (not) in the third world eg ganges, cotarum, la pas, ohio rivers etc
I just had 2 female bylaw services in my yard about a dog I don’t have…. They were dressed to the nines like cops. I should have said there is someone down in trudeau town (one in every town) that needs a hug.
Not sure I should post this as it is dryer and longer than the last… this is the last for me anyway
17.2.2 Heap Leach Pad The primary HLP can accommodate approximately 92 Mt of ore and is located approximately 1.2 km north of the Eagle pit. The primary HLP is located in the
Ann Gulch catchment. The base of the primary HLP
confining embankment is located at an elevation of 880 masl, and
at full height in Phase 3 of the primary HLP, the heap will extend up Ann Gulch to an elevation of approximately 1,225 masl at the top of the planned ore stack. The proposed secondary HLP will accommodate the remaining estimated 63.3 Mt of ore (current designed capacity is 111 Mt) and will be located approximately 3 km east of the Eagle pit near the Olive pit. The secondary HLP will be located in the Bawn Boy catchment. The base of the secondary HLP confining embankment is located in the upper portion of the basin at an elevation of 1,300 masl, and at full height in Phase 2, the secondary HLP will extend to an elevation of approximately 1,470 masl at the top of the planned ore stack.
Each HLP comprises (or will comprise, as applicable) a number of elements:
•
An earth/rock-filled embankment, to provide stability to the base of the HLP;
• A lined storage area for the ore to be leached;
• A pregnant leach solution (PLS) collection system;
• An in-heap sump for collection and pumping of PLS;
• Events ponds to contain excess solution in extreme events; and
• Leak detection recovery and monitoring systems to ensure the containment of PLS.
The primary HLP is
constructed in phases. Phase 1 will accommodate approximately 27.0 Mt of ore, Phase 2 will accommodate 32 Mt and Phase 3 will accommodate the remainder of the tonnage for a total of 92 Mt.
The secondary HLP will be constructed in phases with each phase accommodating approximately 20 Mt of ore. The initial phase of the primary HLP was constructed and began operating in 2019. The
secondary HLP will be constructed and begin operations
during 2029. The primary HLP and secondary HLP are illustrated in Figure 17-3 and Figure 17-4, respectively. The liner for the HLPs and events ponds consists of a composite geomembrane and underlying geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) which was used in lieu of a 300 mm thick layer of compacted lowpermeability material due to the lack of suitable on-site soils in sufficient quantities. The GCL soil liner provides an equivalent secondary containment to that of a 300 mm minimum thick low permeability soil layer, offering a hydraulic conductivity of 1x10-6 cm/sec or lower. Free-draining granular material was placed on top of the HLP liner together with a network of collection pipes to collect and drain process solutions and storm infiltration, and to minimize hydraulic heads on the liner, thereby reducing the risk of leakage.
Piezometers are installed within the liner cover fill at strategic locations to monitor the hydraulic head on the liner system. The PLS sump area to the elevation of the HLP embankment crest has a double-geomembrane liner installed over a GCL liner together with a leak detection and recovery system (LDRS). The LDRS was installed between the two geomembranes to monitor and contain any leaks through the top geomembrane. The events ponds are lined with a double-geomembrane liner installed over a GCL liner together with a LDRS. This allows them to contain excess solutions for short durations, if required. Temporary runoff interceptor ditches or berms are constructed for each phase of the HLPs in order to collect storm water runoff from entering the heap. The interceptors are constructed and in operation before construction of each HLP phase. The temporary interceptors are constructed at the up-gradient limit of each phase of the HLP as the liner will tie into the access road adjacent to the ditches. Once the HLP is ready for the next phase, the temporary interceptor ditch will be filled and regraded for placement of the liner for the next phase. The diversion ditches are sized for the 100-year, 24-hour event, and armoured with riprap. The ditches are backfilled or removed at the end of each phase in order to tie in the HLP liner system and pipework. In the event of an
emergency or other unforeseen circumstance in which pumping of solution ceases, or in the event of excessive surface runoff from the HLP, discharge of excess water or solution is directed in a controlled manner through a lined spillway to the events pond. Solution levels within the heap leach are kept low during normal operations. However, during emergency situations, the HLP spillway will prevent overtopping of the embankment, and will maintain containment of the solution at all times.
The HLP spillway is designed to safely convey the flow represented as one third between the 1,000-year event and the probable maximum flood (PMF). The event ponds will incorporate internal and outlet spillways to safely pass the PMF peak flows after attenuation through the pond. The events ponds are sized to provide containment storage for a Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) Event plus 24 hours of draindown from the heap after the in-heap pond has reached its maximum capacity. The primary HLF events ponds have a combined operational storage capacity of approximately 340,000 m3 with 1 m of freeboard. The combined storage capacity of the primary HLF events ponds (without freeboard) is 300,000 m3 .
17.2.4.2 Pregnant Solution The pregnant solution is pumped from the collection sump at the toe of the HLP to the ADR plant. The pipeline has been sized for a nominal flowrate of 2,070 m3 /h. The pregnant solution pipe was run on surface for approximately 400 m to the plant from the HLP, and approximately 4 km from the secondary HLP.
Rereading the above seems to cancel my previous thought that they maximized solution and saturated the field causing the sluff… otherwise it would drain to containment pond?
Regards to all longs and I guess we don’t need to worry about the price of gold for a couple quarters