Reactive Transport Modeling of a Historic Waste Rock Pile at the Detour Lake Gold Mine

One of the potential byproducts of waste rock is Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), also called Acid Rock Drainage (ARD), from the dissolution of sulfides which can release acidic and metalliferous effluent into the environment. This thesis presents a model of a 1-D, 17 m high, theoretical waste rock pile with a non-reactive cover that would have existed 30 years in the past at the Detour Lake property. Since short term predictions of ARD are difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of waste rock and the seasonal variety from one year to the next, the model simulates 30 years of exposure to atmospheric conditions. The project utilizes hydrological and mineralogical work previously done on site along with 30 years of meteorological data to build the model. Similar procedures may be used to model the long-term generation of AMD on other sites and act a tool to test waste rock management strategies.