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Mine drainage from Lynx 8 & 10 levels and its implications to reclamation & closure plans at Myra Falls Operations

British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium; University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

This paper summarizes mine drainage research conducted from 1997 to 1999 at the Lynx underground mine. The poly-metallic mine is part of Boliden-Westmin's Myra Falls Operations (MFO), located in Strathcona Provincial Park. The Lynx mine is situated on the lower slope of Phillips Ridge, receiving greater than two metres of precipitation annually. The mine's ore body is geologically hosted within a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit: and resultant acid rock drainage (ARD) is known to discharge from mine workings. The primary goal of the research program was to improve the understanding of the mine drainage from Lynx's 8 and 10 levels in order to help evaluate the longterm implications for mine closure. The quantity and quality of mine discharge waters and their relationships to precipitation formed the technical basis of the study. The research findings indicate that seasonally acidic conditions occur in certain mine workings during the late summer and early fall months. The Lynx mine's hydrologie response to precipitation events is generally rapid, causing ARD products to be flushed-out during infiltration from freshet rains occurring in the fall. Data analysis and re-interpretations of previous research efforts indicate that the existing conceptual Closure Plan options for decommissioning the Lynx mine would not likely be sufficient to effectively seal the portals and mitigate mine drainage.

Conference Paper

application/pdf

2009-06-15

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9117

Unreviewed

British Columbia Technical and Research Committee on Reclamation

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