Geochemical controls on the release of rare earth elements from nechalacho tailings

皇后大学和阿瓦隆稀有金属有限公司将联合调查稀土元素(REE)是否从西北地区耶洛奈夫附近拟建新矿生产的细磨尾矿中释放到地表水中。将进行野外和实验室实验，以确定水化学的季节性变化对稀土元素移动性的影响。超滤、同步加速器分析和形态模拟将用于区分含稀土的细小胶体颗粒、含稀土的水溶液络合物和简单的溶解离子形式的稀土。只有后者被认为是水生生物可利用的。该研究项目将涉及1名硕士学生、1名理科学士和1名PDF，他们将与Avalon员工及其顾问密切互动，他们正在设计浮选厂和尾矿管理设施。这项研究对加拿大的好处是，它将填补与我们参与快速崛起的稀土开采经济部门的能力相关的关键信息缺口，同时保持北部水生生态系统的环境保护。Avalon的好处包括改善了控制和关闭计划，以及消除了细尾矿对稀土的损失。

Expertise from Queen's University and Avalon Rare Metal Ltd. will be combined to investigate whether rare earth elements (REE) are released to surface water from the finely ground tailings to be produced from a proposed new mine near Yellowknife, NWT. Field and laboratory experiments will be conducted to determine the influence of seasonal changes in water chemistry on REE mobility. Ultrafiltration, synchrotron analysis and speciation modeling will be used distinguish between fine colloidal particles that contain REE, aqueous complexes with REE, and simple dissolved ionic forms of REE. Only the latter is considered bioavailable to aquatic life. The research program will involve 1 MSc student, 1 BSc and 1 PDF who will interact closely with Avalon staff and their consultants who are designing the flotation plant and the tailings management facility. The benefits to Canada of this research are that it will fill a critical information gap relevant to our ability to participate in the rapidly emerging economic sector of REE extraction while maintaining environmental protection of Northern aquatic ecosystems. The benefits to Avalon include improved control and closure plans, and eliminating loss of REE to fine tailings.