Leakage through a hole in a geomembrane liner for tailings dams

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At 36 billion dollars in 2010, Canada's mining industry directly accounted for 3.5% of our economy (Stats Can). The solid waste by-products generated by mineral extraction need to be managed in a sustainable manner to maintain and grow this significant economic activity. Most of these wastes are remnant soil size particles and water end products that are called tailings. Tailings management facilities are large impoundments that are used to dispose of tailings in a safe, environmentally acceptable and economically feasible manner. There is a growing demand for the use of geomembranes to line tailings management facilities with the objective of minimizing the quantity of fluid escaping from the impoundments to the surrounding environment. Geomembranes are thin plastic sheets that are used to significantly enhance environmental protection in municipal solid waste landfills. However, there is little specific data to permit their rational design and long-term assessment for tailings management facilities. In particular little is known about how much fluid may be expected to escape or leak through the geomembrane. Thus the objective of this new partnership between Klohn Crippen Berger and Queen's University is to establish a technical basis for design of geomembrane lined tailing management systems to minimize fluid leakage into the surrounding environment. Unique large-scale experiments will be conducted with specialized existing equipment at Queen's to quantify the quantity of leakage through holes in the geomembrane using real materials under realistic physical conditions. New knowledge regarding the factors affecting leakage and appropriate techniques to predict leakage will be transferred to Canadian geotechnical consulting industry and applied to better manage mining generated wastes. New findings and knowledge from the proposed research are expected to lead to geomembrane lined tailing management systems that will provide more effective, reliable and cost-effective environmental protection. The research will also provide advanced training for a PhD student and a Geotechnical Engineering Technician.