GEOCHEMICAL
ASSESSMENT OF SUBAQUEOUS TAILINGS DISPOSAL IN BUTTLE LAKE, BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Mine Environment Neutral Drainage at CANMET-MMSL |
MEND Project 2.11.1a-e
March 1990
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Limited evidence
suggests that the chemical reactivity of tailings is in fact inhibited
by storage underwater, and that such storage may be a preferred
long-term disposal option. To assess the long-term environmental
feasibility of subaqueous disposal of mine tailings, this report
examines the waters and sediments of the south basin of Buttle Lake.
British Columbia (the site of an inactive submerged tailing deposit).
The Cu, Zn and Pb-rich mine tailings were deposited in the lake
via a submerged outfall from 1966 to 1984. The tailings are presently
areally widespread across the basin and are being covered by a thin
veneer of natural sediments. This report presents a detailed study
of the distributions of metals in both the solid phases and interstitial
waters of the sediments, and in the overlying surface waters.
High resolution
profiles of dissolved Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Fe and Mn distributions in
interstitial waters are presented for four cores collected from
the south basin of Buttle Lake in the autumn of 1989. Three of the
cores penetrated through the tailings layer into natural (pre-mine)
sediments; the fourth, collected near the former tailings discharge
point, consisted entirely of relatively coarse-grained pyrite-rich
tailings. The dissolved metal distributions are interpreted in concert
with mineralogical data and high resolution measurements of major
and minor element distributions, including C, N and S, in the associated
solid phases.
Water quality
sampling was also carried out at the four coring stations. The sampling
included physical profiling and discrete water sampling at three
depths (surface, mid and bottom) for general parameters and metals
analyses. Present water quality sampling and review of past data
indicate considerably decreased metal concentrations since metal
loadings from Myra Creek were reduced by the implementation of a
collection and treatment system in 1983. However, metal concentrations
of zinc, copper and cadmium, while decreased, occasionally
exceeded provincial objectives proposed for the lake, particularly
at depth. Metal concentrations vary seasonally and the highest levels
are found during the winter months; concentrations are also higher
at depth but apparently not as a result of metal releases from the
sediment.
At all
coring sites, a 1-2 cm thick veneer of natural, organic-rich sediments
has accumulated on top of the tailings. The distribution
of dissolved and solid-phase Fe and Mn indicates that the sediments
are anoxic at all sites within a few cm of the sediment-water interface.
Fe and
Mn oxides are enriched in the surface sediments at all locations,
but these distributions are not in steady-state equilibrium with
the respective pore water profiles. However, both elements are currently
being progressively enriched in surface sediments by the diagenetic
recycling of Fe and Mn in the upper few cm in all cores.
Dissolved
Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb concentrations in pore waters from the former
tailings-discharge area are very low in the upper two decimetres.
The tailings at this location accumulated very rapidly, and the
pore water results and benthic influx calculations indicate that
there is currently no flux of Zn, Cu, Cd or Pb to the overlying
water column at this site. In pore waters from the other locations,
all of which are characterized by a layer of tailings up to three
decimetres thick sitting atop methane-bearing anoxic natural sediments,
dissolved Cu, Pb and Cd occur in relatively low concentration in
the upper few centimetres Zn concentrations in the pore waters at
shallow depths are slightly higher than in bottom water of the lake
at all three sites, suggesting that there is an upward flux
of the metal to the overlying water. However, the precipitation
of Fe oxyhydroxides in the upper 30 to 50 mm at these locations
appears to reduce the efflux of dissolved metals. Dissolved Zn,
Cu. Pb and Cd are enriched together in specific, thin subsurface
zones in all cores, indicating limited zones of release at depth.
Such zones correlate with the presence of high dissolved organic
carbon contents.
Benthic flux
calculations indicate that effluxes of Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb from the
sediments are very low, and are comparable in magnitude to fluxes
associated with natural geochemical processes in lake and coastal
marine sediments. A conservative (worst case) estimation suggests
that less than 0.2 parts per trillion of Zn are being added to south
basin deep water as a result of chemical reactivity of the metal-rich
deposits on the lake floor. This amount is negligible, and it is
reasonable to conclude that the submerged tailings are having no
impact on Buttle Lake water quality at the present time. As burial
by natural sediments continues, this conclusion will be reinforced.
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