testing and implementation of amd mitigation, alum gulch-flux canyon, cox gulch-3r canyon and lead...
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Testing and Implementation of AMD Mitigation, Alum Gulch-Flux Canyon,
Cox Gulch-3R Canyon and Lead Queen MineDan Eyde – St Cloud Mining
Barbara Carroll - GeoGRAFX
February 24 - 25, 2015, Vancouver, Canada
Watershed area mitigation of AMD and selected heavy metals:
◦Raise pH of drainage waters◦Reduce zinc, cadmium, lead, and
copper in Alum Gulch-Flux Canyon, Cox Gulch-3R Canyon and Lead Queen Mine, SE Arizona utilizing gabion retaining wall and footer structures combined with zeolite material adsorption
Project Description
Legacy mining activity at the top of the watershed produces acid mine drainage which is incorporated in groundwater & surface water discharges (tailings, tunneling, wall rock)
Reasons For This Project
The chemistry of the bedrock causes high background AMD as a result of normal erosional processes
Reasons For This Project
Several large removal actions and expensive mine portal closures implemented in the area have had little effect on heavy metals and AMD -impacted loading characteristics of several tributaries flowing into Sonoita Creek and Patagonia Lake.
Reasons For This Project
Location
Project Location
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014, 9:36 p.m.
TUCSON — A popular tourist attraction in southern Arizona is at risk of being contaminated with orange and brown sludge that spilled from two abandoned mines near the town of Patagonia.
The Trench Camp and Lead Queen mines overflowed late last month because of heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane Odile.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has issued a notice of violation to an Asarco trust that owns the Trench Camp Mine.
“We've talked to our consultants, and we're gonna do what the state requires us to do,” Jay Steinberg, who runs the trust, said Wednesday.
A resident near Patagonia noticed the sludge at the end of September, first at the Lead Queen Mine and later at the Trench Camp one, said Wendy Russell, coordinator for the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance. Both waterways lead to Sonoita Creek, which runs off into Patagonia Lake, the site of the state park.
“This is an ongoing hazard to our community's water supply,” Russell said, adding that Patagonia Lake State Park is a tourist attraction. “Folks fish and swim there.”
Initial tests showed the water had unsafe levels of pH, but more will be conducted.
The Lead Queen Mine ended operations in the 1940s. Trench Camp closed in the 1960s.
Since then, Arizona has taken Asarco to court to get the company to invest in cleanup efforts at its shuttered mines across the state. The parties settled in 2009, and $2.85 million was allocated to cleaning up Trench Camp and another mine.
Russell said not enough has been done to ensure the sites are free of any toxic materials that could leak into the area's water supply.
“There's been minimal efforts to clean them up, and we just witnessed what happens when they don't get cleaned up properly,” she said.
Other parts of the southern part of the state have been affected by the hurricane that damaged the Baja California peninsula.
Suprise! Article in Pittsburg Tribune
Lead Queen Site
ADEQ Impairment Map
Combined Metals Distribution
Geologic Map
Geologic Influences on Water and Soil and Overall Watershed Ecology
Humboldt
0.100
1.000
10.000
100.000
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
pH
Co
mb
Me
tals
(p
pm
)
Trench Camp
0.100
1.000
10.000
100.000
1000.000
2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
pH
Com
b M
etal
s (p
pm)
Worlds Fair
0.010
0.100
1.000
10.000
100.000
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
pH
Co
mb
Met
als
(pp
m)
Trench Camp Remediated Tailings
Average chemical composition of mine tailings in the Harshaw Creek Watershed (measured in ppm). From Dean (1982, p.46)
TRENCH MINE TAILINGS
pH 2.6SO4 41,076Fe 6,050Cu 43Mn 4,621Zn 838As 466Pb 3,972Cd 20Cr 16Se 0Hg 5.4Ag 25Al 528, 725
Water Chemistry
Storm-related Surface water from Trench Mine Tailings (mg/L)
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURESWATERSHED POSITION
Faults and sympatheticfractures influencemovement of water through the systemin shallow and deepgroundwater
Upper Alum Trench Camp
Remediation of Adit discharge:Abiding by the Law
6/17/05
Trench Camp Wetlands
Load estimates calculated during base-flow conditions at Trench Camp indicate that the discharge produces approximately 20 lbs of combined metals Cd+Co+Cu+Ni+Pb+Zn)
per month; the World’s Fair segment produces approximately 86 lbs of combined metals (Cd+Co+Cu+Ni+Pb+Zn) per month.
Perennial Evaporative Salt Accumulation
Salt Fields-Load Transfer(from spring or seep to
stream reach)
Project Location
Site 1 – Upper Alum Gulch
Site 2 – Alum, Below World Fair Mine
Site 3 – 3R Canyon
Site 4 – Cox Gulch, 3-R Canyon
Site 5A – Upper Lead Queen
Lower PortalOutlet
Upper adits, shaftsAnd drifts Lower Portal
Outlet
Junction of Fe-rich water withNeutral high pH stream—initial drop-Out area of ochre precipitate
Upper adits, shaftsAnd drifts
Site 5B - Lower Lead Queen- Fracture discharge area
Parking area
South TibutaryWith waste rock and Mine workings.
Gabion-pad array
Consortium partners, by direct in-stream treatment methods, will reduce the heavy metals loading of zinc, cadmium, lead, and copper and raise the pH of several AMD -impacted tributaries flowing into Sonoita Creek and Patagonia Lake.
Desired Outcomes
1. Water quality data, including aqueous invertebrate inventories/analysis will be compiled and a series of WQ samples along with an invertebrate inventory will be taken to characterize the current base flow water quality conditions prior to emplacement of in-stream structures; geochemistry testing and monitoring will continue throughout the life of the project.
MethodsProject implementation will be carried out as follows:
2. Model simulations of surface flow will be conducted, and weather stations and Continuous Slope Area gages will be installed to assist in establishing local precipitation and flow response values. Peak flow values, precipitation and stream response will be recorded during monsoon, and will be integrated into the models to determine parameters for gabion wall construction.
Methods
3. Laboratory column tests will be conducted to measure transport parameters describing the migration of contaminants and acid mine drainage through Zeolite test media.
Methods
4. A series of gabion retainer wall structures and stream-bed footers with integrated zeolite materials will be installed in favorable areas downstream of perennial spring discharge points which are the sources of loading in the streams.
Methods
Gabion Structures
5. Continue monitoring water quality inflow and outflow, soil chemistry and aqueous invertebrate community health upstream and downstream of the implementation for overall effectiveness and continuity.
Methods
Natural zeolites are hydrated aluminosilicates.
Zeolites are used commercially for several reasons:
* Unique absorption* Ion exchange* Molecular sieve* Catalytic abilities
What Is Zeolite
Natural zeolites are readily available. The resources are large, well tested and consistent in performance.
There are a number of available technologies that improve sorbent selectivity or increase capacity for specific contaminants.
Technology is proven in municipal and drinking water, nuclear, and industrial water treatment applications and is becoming more common in polishing mine effluents prior to discharge.
Natural Zeolite-based Media Systems
Parameter Raw Water After Zeolite
Sample 1 3.31 5.71
Sample 2 2.97 5.32
Sample 3 2.52 4.00
Test Results pH
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
0 5 10 15 20 25
Dosage (g adsorbent/L metal solution)
Perc
en
t A
dsorb
ed
(%
)
Co Cs Cu Sr Zn
Cs >Sr>Cu>Zn~Co
Sr
Co
Percent Cation Removal Obtained With Zeolite
Zeolite ProjectsProject Contaminant
Three Mile Island Cesium, Strontium
Kendall Gold Mine – Hilger, MT Thallium, Cu, Pb, Zn, Co
Homestake Legacy Site - Farmington, NM
Uranium
Colorado Tailings, Butte, MT Cu, Pb, Zn, AZ
Greenbriar Coal – West Virgina AMD, Mn, Al - Pilot
Rimcon – Wyoming Mitigation High Sodic waters
WRT – 130 Commercial installations
Arsenic, Radium, Thorium, Uranium
Fukushima, Japan – Kurion Cesium, Strontium, Americium, Calcium
Erosion Control and Rock Barrier BMPs are expected to last 5-10 years depending on the rate of storm run-off. Zeolite material replacement frequency will be determined as part of implementation of the project.
Long-Term Maintenance
QuestionsDan Eyde – CTO & PresidentSt Cloud Mining1955 W Grant Rd. Suite 200Tucson, AZ [email protected] or [email protected]