A Field Column Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Different Cover Materials in Reducing Infiltration into a Copper Mill Tailings Waste Pile: New ... of Mining & Technology Master's Thesis - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

This is an original 1989 Master’s Thesis from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico. While it is legible, the text and image quality reflect the age of the document. The research evaluated the effectiveness of different types of natural cover materials in reducing infiltration, and subsequent leachate from, a copper mill tailings waste pile. The experiment involved four field columns packed with cover mill tailings and capped with one of four different materials: a 50-50 mixture of copper mill tailings and bentonite clay, a fine-textured soil underlain by gravel, a 95-5 mixture of copper mill tailings and bentonite clay, and 100% copper mill tailings, which served as the control for the experiment. Initially bromide, and later four fluorinated organic tracers were placed at the base of these cap materials to track fluid movement through the columns. The columns remained outdoors for nearly four years during which time effluent was periodically sampled from the bottom of each column, tensiometric data was collected, and local precipitation records were kept. At the conclusion of the experiment, the field columns were dissected to determine the moisture content and tracer concentration profiles throughout each column. In addition, in situ and repacked ring samples of the cover materials underwent hydraulic characterization in the laboratory. Cap material effectiveness was gauged by analyzing the effluent records and the tensiometric data, as well as by analyzing tracer concentration and moisture content distributions in each column.

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