Peer
Review of MEND Studies Conducted from 1990 to 1994 on Acidic Drainage
at Mine Doyon South Waste Rock Dump
|
Mine Environment Neutral Drainage at CANMET-MMSL |
MEND
Project 1.14.3-E
November 1996
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The south waste
rock dump at Mine Doyon, Cadillac, Québec has been generating acidic
drainage since 1985, two years after the dump was started. Acid
generation increased steadily from 1985 to 1988 and since 1988 the
dump has been generating strong acidic drainage which is presently
collected and treated with lime.
Between 1991
and 1994 the south dump has been the subject of extensive investigations
and studies carried out through the MEND Prediction Committee primarily
by Groupe de Recherche en Géologie de l’Ingénieur (GREGI),
Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec. The results of these studies
have been issued in a series of ten reports. The site investigations
included tasks such as drilling and sampling of the rock dump materials;
piezometer, lysimeter and thermocouple installations; sampling of
acidic drainage, groundwater and pore water; collection of gas samples
within the dump; collection of microbiological specimens; measurement
of surface temperatures and temperature profiles in the dump; and
collection of climatic and hydrologic data. The laboratory and analytical
studies carried out included characterization of the physico-chemical
and mechanical properties of the different types of waste rock;
water chemistry analyses including rapid chemical techniques to
monitor acid mine drainage; hydrology and water budget studies;
geotechnical and hydrological studies including evaluation of dry
barriers; extensive studies of mineralogy and geochemical processes;
microbiological enumeration and diversity studies; and predictive
modeling of acid mine drainage processes including heat transfer
analysis. One of the more important objectives of the studies at
the south dump was to measure physical and chemical properties of
an actual waste dump and to identify key processes contributing
to the generation of acid mine drainage.
The MEND Prediction
Committee arranged for a peer review of the studies carried out
at the south dump by a designated group of expert consultants (Peer
Review Team). The peer review was carried out under five separate
technical components identified as (i) hydrology, (ii) geotechnology
and hydrogeology, (iii) geochemistry and mineralogy, (iv) microbiology
and (v) predictive modeling. The Peer Review Team made a technical
and scientific review of the ten reports provided by the MEND Prediction
Committee with particular reference to providing a critique of strong
and weak points, identifying new information and understanding developed
from the studies and suggesting areas for future work. This report
provides the peer review commentary on the Mine Doyon study.
The overall
conclusion of the peer review is that the Mine Doyon study has provided
a new understanding of some specific technical issues and represents
a thorough and exceptionally well documented case study. The peer
review also identified a number of inconsistencies and occasional
technical errors in the reports which should be corrected. The inconsistencies
occur mainly in the earlier reports which were issued without the
benefit of the complete study results, also budget and time constraints
were a contributing factor.
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