Selenium management challenges at Kemess Mine

British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Selenium management challenges at Kemess Mine Bent, Harold; McConnachie, Jennifer; Lysay, Georgia J.

Abstract

In 1997, Kemess Mine began to place waste rock in permanent storage immediately west of the open pit. Waste rock placement occurred within the watershed boundary of a second-order tributary to Attichika Creek in the larger Finlay River watershed. Although diversion systems were constructed around the Waste Rock Dump, much of the small watershed remains intact, with several perennial and ephemeral sources of water, such as localized wetlands south of the Waste Rock Dump, interception ditches diverting water away from the Pit, and seepage water from the toe of the Waste Rock Dump. All of these sources inevitably report to Waste Rock Creek, and provide habitat for a resident Dolly Varden population. Although the waste rock is non-acid generating, the third source, seepage water from a portion of the Waste Rock Dump, was found to contain elevated selenium concentrations. Selenium concentrations in Waste Rock Creek have consistently exceeded the BC Approved Water Quality Objective since late 2003. In 2004, following a review of cumulative water quality data for Waste Rock Creek and discussions with Kemess staff, selenium was recognized as an element of concern at Kemess Mine by the BC Ministry of Environment (MOE). As a result, comprehensive investigations have followed to: identify the predominant selenium source through data analysis of material characterization and geochemical modeling; develop monitoring programs to adequately characterize trends in the receiving environment water, sediments, benthos, and fish; and develop strategies for effective risk assessment and mitigation. This paper summarizes the findings of enhanced monitoring programs and maps the challenges faced while developing an appropriate mitigation strategy.

Item Metadata

Title	Selenium management challenges at Kemess Mine
Creator	Bent, Harold; McConnachie, Jennifer; Lysay, Georgia J.
Contributor	British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium; University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering
Date Issued	2009
Description	In 1997, Kemess Mine began to place waste rock in permanent storage immediately west of the open pit. Waste rock placement occurred within the watershed boundary of a second-order tributary to Attichika Creek in the larger Finlay River watershed. Although diversion systems were constructed around the Waste Rock Dump, much of the small watershed remains intact, with several perennial and ephemeral sources of water, such as localized wetlands south of the Waste Rock Dump, interception ditches diverting water away from the Pit, and seepage water from the toe of the Waste Rock Dump. All of these sources inevitably report to Waste Rock Creek, and provide habitat for a resident Dolly Varden population. Although the waste rock is non-acid generating, the third source, seepage water from a portion of the Waste Rock Dump, was found to contain elevated selenium concentrations. Selenium concentrations in Waste Rock Creek have consistently exceeded the BC Approved Water Quality Objective since late 2003. In 2004, following a review of cumulative water quality data for Waste Rock Creek and discussions with Kemess staff, selenium was recognized as an element of concern at Kemess Mine by the BC Ministry of Environment (MOE). As a result, comprehensive investigations have followed to: identify the predominant selenium source through data analysis of material characterization and geochemical modeling; develop monitoring programs to adequately characterize trends in the receiving environment water, sediments, benthos, and fish; and develop strategies for effective risk assessment and mitigation. This paper summarizes the findings of enhanced monitoring programs and maps the challenges faced while developing an appropriate mitigation strategy.
Genre	Conference Paper
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2010-08-31
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0042563
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24643
Affiliation	Non UBC
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Unknown
Copyright Holder	British Columbia Technical and Research Committee on Reclamation
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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