Regions: North Slave Region, South Slave Region
Tags: contaminants, water quality, Diavik Diamond Mine, waste rock
| Principal Investigator: | Blowes, David W. (24) |
| Licence Number: | 16753 |
| Organization: | University of Waterloo |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2020
|
| Issued: | Sep 30, 2020 |
| Project Team: | David Blowes, David Wilson, Jeff Bain |
Objective(s): To provide critical insights into the potential long-term water quality impacts that may arise from waste-rock weathering; to develop scaling relationships to predict contaminant release, transport, and attenuation in the field; and to inform closure-cover design to mitigate the generation of contaminated drainage.
Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4769. The objectives of this project are to provide critical insights into the potential long-term water quality impacts that may arise from waste-rock weathering; to develop scaling relationships to predict contaminant release, transport, and attenuation in the field; and to inform closure-cover design to mitigate the generation of contaminated drainage. The research work will involve field collection of waste-rock samples from the Ekati site through a test-pitting and instrumentation program. Waste-rock samples will be collected from depth- and laterally-discrete zones within the waste rock pile, and shipped back to the University of Waterloo for further testing and use in laboratory experiments. Instrumentation measuring temperature, water quality, moisture content, and pore-gas O2 and CO2 concentrations will be installed within the waste-rock pile on horizontal benches and extending beyond the footprint of the pile. Many of the instruments will be connected to dataloggers to provide frequent measurements throughout the year. The research team will provide Dominion Diamond Mine with annual progress reports, which will include detailed research progress updates and data summaries. In addition, the results of this research will be described in conference presentations, and refereed journal articles. The research team will interact directly with personnel involved at the Ekati Mine. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
