Acid mine drainage from abandoned mine sites: problematic and Reclamation approaches

By:

Bruno Bussière, Professor, Department of Applied Sciences,University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada. Email: Bruno.bussiere@uqat.ca

Abstract

One of the most serious environmental issues related to the mining industry in Canada and elsewhere, is the pollution from abandoned mine waste disposal sites. The wastes containing sulphide minerals can oxidize and generate contaminants in the water drainage, a phenomenon called acid mine drainage (AMD). Different techniques are available to control the production of AMD. However, these techniques were mainly developed for the closure of operating sites, and are not as efficient for abandoned mine sites that were left exposed to natural conditions for years. The main differences between an operating and abandoned mine waste disposal site are the quality of the interstitial water, the presence of well implemented acidophilic bacteria, and the quality of the retaining infrastructures. To avoid contamination of surrounding ecosystems, it is necessary to take into consideration these particularities at the reclamation stage. The experience at the Lorraine mine site shows a slight improvement of the water quality in the waste disposal site 10 years after reclamation even if the oxygen barrier is working as expected. The addition of a passive treatment system to treat the contaminated pore water that will eventually flow out of the site is then a critical component of the reclamation at any abandoned AMD mine waste disposal site.

Bio

Bruno Bussière is professor (since 1998) in the Applied Sciences Department at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), where he holds the position of Co-Chair for the Industrial NSERC Polytechnique-UQAT Chair in Environment and Mine Wastes Management and Chair of the Canada Research Chair on the rehabilitation of abandoned mine sites. He has also been an adjunct professor at École Polytechnique since 2001. A mining engineer who graduated from the École Polytechnique-McGill's coop program in 1991, Bruno Bussière has obtained a Master’s degree (1993) and a Ph.D. (1999) in hydrogeology and mining environment from École Polytechnique de Montréal.
His teaching and research activities mostly relate to mining geotechnique and hydrogeology, including constitutive and numerical modeling of unsaturated flow in soils and mine wastes, characterization of tailings and backfill behavior, hydro-geotechnical aspects of mine wastes disposal, mineral separation in tailings, and reclamation methods for surface disposal sites including control of acid mine drainage. Since is a professor at UQAT, Bruno Bussière have obtained a number of grants from research agencies (NSERC, NATEQ, VRQ, etc.). Bruno Bussière has supervised/co-supervised over the past 6 years 38 undergraduate and graduate students and he is presently the supervisor/co-supervisor of 17 graduate students. He has given a number of short courses and seminars on related topics, including sessions for the Québec Department of Natural Resources, CANMET/MEND, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum,  the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the Québec Order of Engineers, the Provincial Association of Geologist and Geophysicist, and also for specific consulting firms.

He is a member of many professional Associations, including the Québec Provincial Order of Engineers (OIQ) and the Canadian Geotechnical Society. Over the last decade, he has authored more than 50 papers published in refereed journal, 150 conference papers, and about 20 technical reports. He is acting as a scientific advisor for various governmental associations and consulting firms in mining geotechnique. He also participates in a number of review boards for various technical journals and scientific organisations.