GREY:NEVDQ - Post by User
Comment by
safetysteveon Aug 18, 2021 4:22pm
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Post# 33725080
RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:stope backfill
RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:stope backfillDuring my 40 year mining career (Safety and Environmental) I was involved in two different US western underground mines during startup that ran into saturated dykes. One made it through startup and continues to operate to this day. (The dyke still produces a reduced flow.) The other was abandoned after 28 months of hard work to control the water inflow. We spent big bucks slowing water inflow through grouting injections but it became cost prohibitive to continue mining due to costs to pump the water to the surface for life of mine, costs to treat the water to achieve environmental discharge limits for life of mine, and costs to permit and dispose of the water into an acceptable drainage system that was not under our control once it left mine property for life of mine plus an unknown number of years into the future after mine abandonment. I don't know the situation at Pumpkin Hollow, but water can be a challenge even in the driest state in the US.