British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Use of zeolite to treat acid rock drainage from Britannia minesite Vos, R. J.; O'Hearn, T. A.

Abstract

Zeolite mineral is one of the few natural materials which has the inherent capability for ion exchange. A proposal was made and a study carried out to investigate the use of natural zeolite to treat acid rock drainage (ARD) from the abandoned Britannia Minesite. The heavy metal uptake by several zeolites was determined using shake flask and column testing. The most effective zeolite in absorbing copper was a phillipsite from Pine Valley, NV. which is capable of an ARD treatment rate of 410 L per kilogram giving a total copper loading of 760 mg/kg zeolite. Regeneration of zeolite by seawater was also investigated. Sea water elution of the phillipsite was able to remove 95% of the copper loaded. Based on these findings and the average quantity of copper contained in the effluent, it is estimated that 311 tonnes of phillipsite will be required to remove copper from one day's flow of ARD from this site.

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