Loughatorick This is real science ... I would trust this a lot more than news reported by Burns Lake News or an article from Skeena Wild
Paper presented at the 4th International Congress on Water Management in Mining, May 28-30, 2014, Via del Mar, Chile. Pilot Treatment of Bell Mine Drainage Bernard C. Aub*, John Stroiazzo, Serge Payant & Stphan Lone Sang
Now Treatment Expert, Envirobay Inc., www.envirobay.com
Glencore Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, John.Stroiazzo@glencore-ca.com
Senior Technologist, AMEC, Dorval, Qubec, Canada, (514) 684-5555, serge.payant@amec.com
Water Treatment Engineer, AMEC, Dorval, Qubec, Canada, (514) 684-5555, Stephan.Lonesang@amec.com
ABSTRACT Glencore's Bell Mine is a closed copper mine near Granisle, British Columbia. The mine ceased production in 1992 and is in a state of care and maintenance. The water collected on-site is directed to the open pit, which has been slowly filling with water since mining ceased. The water level within the pit is expected to continue to rise and will require treatment before it can be discharged to the environment.
AMEC conducted a three-week pilot campaign at the Bell Mine in August 2012 using the High Density Sludge (HDS) process. The objectives of the pilot plant testing were to confirm the validity of the water treatment plans as presented in the 1992 Closure Plan, verify the water treatability, and define the design parameters for the full scale plant.
The Bell Mine pilot campaign proved that the Bell pit water can be successfully treated to meet Canadian Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER). By applying the HDS process, it was possible to bring the sludge solids content to more than 20% solids. Pilot testing provided detailed information concerning lime consumption, flocculant consumption, sludge production, raw water and effluent quality, and sludge properties. The sludge produced from the pilot testing was shown to be stable. The information collected during this pilot campaign is currently being used for the detailed engineering design of a full-scale treatment plant. It is expected that the full-scale HDS plant will be capable of reproducing the results from this pilot campaign. The expected effluent metal concentrations from a properly designed HDS plant, contingent on good operating practices, are equal to, or less than, half the limits from the Canadian MMER. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCALE-UP TO A FULL-SIZE TREATMENT PLANT Pilot testing of Bell mine drainage water showed that the HDS process can successfully treat this water with effluent concentrations of regulated metals an order of magnitude below the MMER limits, except for Cu which was measured at one third the limit. REFERENCES Aub, B. (1999) ‘Innovative Modification to High Density Sludge Process’, Proceedings for Sudbury ’99, Mining and the Environment II September 13-17, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, pp. 1103-1111.
Aub, B. (2004) Une tude en usine pilote de la production de boues haute densit durant le traitement des eaux de drainage minier acide (A Pilot Study on High Density Sludge Production During Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage), Master’s thesis submitted to cole Polytechnique de Montral, Quebec.
Aub, B.C. & Payant, S.C. (1997) ‘The Geco Process: A New High Density Sludge Treatment for Acid Mine Drainage’ Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, Vancouver, BC, Canada, pp. 165-179.
Aub, B. & Zinck, J. (1999) ‘Comparison of amd treatment processes and their mpact on sludge characteristics’, Proceedings for Sudbury ’99, Mining and the Environment II September 13-17, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, pp. 261-270.
Aub, B. & Zinck, J. (2003) Lime Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage in Canada, paper presented at the BrazilCanada Seminar on Mine Rehabilitation in Florianpolis, Brazil, 1-3 December.