Determining Evaporative Fluxes for Improving the Water Balance at Mine Waste Repositories

确定蒸发通量以改善矿山废物储存库的水平衡

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06588
• 负责人: Wilson, Gordon
• 金额: $ 3.79万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=741324
• 关键词: Determining; Evaporative; Fluxes; Improving; Water

Successful operation and closure of mine waste repositories require accurate quantification of the surface water budget that controls the infiltration of meteoric water into the waste profile. The rate of net surface infiltration ultimately generates internal seepage with the release of potential leachates that may threaten downstream receptors. Recent field scale observations at both active and reclaimed mine sites in Canada, as well as international sites operated by Canadian companies, have shown current predictive models used to calculate infiltration rates for mine waste deposits such as waste rock dumps and tailings impoundments, such as the main waste rock dump at Equity Silver Mine, BC, are unacceptable. The global objective of the research program proposed here is to investigate the reasons for these errors and to improve the existing soil-atmosphere methods currently available for estimating surface flux boundary conditions at mine waste repositories. All of the research I have carried out over the course of my career has been in the area of mine waste management. The objective of my research programs has been to develop new technologies for improved mine waste management, mine closure and the reduction of long-term environmental liabilities. These objectives have been achieved through the training and innovation of highly qualified personnel. The chief short-term objective of the proposed research program will be directed at the development of accurate instrumentation to measure true field evaporation and evapotranspiration on uncovered and covered mine waste deposits for direct comparison with values predicted by theoretical models. The long-term objective of the research program will be to improve the capacity of researchers and engineers to design mine waste deposits that reduce environmental liabilities associated with mine tailings and waste rock. In addition, the long-standing objective will be the enduring training of highly qualified personnel (HQP), dissemination research results in high-quality journals and conference proceedings, and finally to assist with the implementation of the research results into practice. The training of 1 PhD and 1 MSc student along with 2 postdoctoral fellows is proposed. It is anticipated that the research program will result in the development of techniques to enhance the environmental monitoring of mining sites and optimize the performance of mine reclamation efforts. It is envisioned that the fundamental knowledge and developed techniques will be used by researchers and practicing engineers in the oil sands industry as well as the base and precious metal mining industry to enhance the design of mine waste systems for oil sands and metal mines at Canadian owned and/or operated mine sites worldwide.

矿山废物库的成功运作和关闭需要准确地量化地表水预算，以控制大气降水渗入废物分布。表面净入渗的速度最终会产生内部渗漏，释放出可能威胁下游受体的渗滤液。最近对加拿大活跃和回收的矿场以及加拿大公司运营的国际矿场进行的现场规模观察表明，目前用于计算废石场和尾矿库等矿山废物堆积物的渗透率的预测模型是不可接受的，例如卑诗省Equity Silver矿山的主要废石场。本文提出的研究计划的全球目标是调查这些误差的原因，并改进现有的土壤-大气方法，以估计矿山废物处置库的地表通量边界条件。在我的职业生涯中，我进行的所有研究都是在矿山废物管理领域。我的研究计划的目标一直是开发新技术，以改善矿山废物管理、关闭矿山和减少长期环境责任。这些目标是通过培训和创新高素质人员实现的。拟议研究计划的主要短期目标将是开发精确的仪器，以测量未覆盖和覆盖的矿山废物矿藏的真实田间蒸发量和蒸散量，以便与理论模型预测的值进行直接比较。该研究计划的长期目标将是提高研究人员和工程师设计矿山废物矿床的能力，以减少与矿山尾矿和废石相关的环境责任。此外，长期目标将是长期培训高素质人员(HQP)，在高质量的期刊和会议记录上传播研究成果，并最终协助将研究成果落实到实践中。拟培养1名博士生、1名硕士研究生和2名博士后研究员。预计该研究方案将导致开发技术，以加强对采矿场地的环境监测，并优化矿山复垦工作的绩效。据设想，基础知识和开发的技术将被油砂行业以及贱金属和贵金属采矿业的研究人员和执业工程师用于加强加拿大拥有和/或运营的全球矿场的油砂和金属矿的矿山废物系统的设计。