• Tailings.info: a website focused on new approaches to safety.



• Tailsafe: Sustainable Improvement in Safety of Tailings Facilities: A European Research Project.



• Draft Reference Document on Best Available Techniques for Management of Tailings and Waste-Rock in Mining Activities. Draft May 2003.

• The US office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) has just released a new computer program, AMDTreat, that offers users a method to predict and model water treatment costs for mine drainage problems. It also allows for the determination of capitol cost associated with treatment of polluted mine drainage.



• Air movement and associated oxygen transport through waste rock dumps has the potential to significantly increase the rate of oxidation of pyrite-bearing material thereby increasing acid rock drainage. Therefore, a good understanding of airflow is required to assess ARD and its associated liability. The following overview paper discusses the mechanisms of airflow, its assessment and prediction, control strategies and includes specific case studies...more

• The 25th Annual National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs Conference (NAAMLP) is scheduled to occur September 28 - October 1, 2003, in Louisville, Kentucky. The call for papers deadline has been extended to June 1 and on-line registration is now available.

• The US office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) has just released a new computer program, AMDTreat, that offers users a method to predict and model water treatment costs for mine drainage problems. It also allows for the determination of capitol cost associated with treatment of polluted mine drainage.

• ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF MINE WASTES, May 24-25, 2003, Vancouver, sponsored by the Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC), is a 2-day intensive short course on the environmental aspects of mine wastes covering a wide spectrum of environmental issues dealing with mine-waste solids and effluents.
• For more information including a list of presenters, or to download a registration form, visit the MAC website.
• To register online, click here.

• Air movement and associated oxygen transport through waste rock dumps has the potential to significantly increase the rate of oxidation of pyrite-bearing material thereby increasing acid rock drainage. Therefore, a good understanding of airflow is required to assess ARD and its associated liability. The following overview paper discusses the mechanisms of airflow, its assessment and prediction, control strategies and includes specific case studies...more



• Current best management practice requires the placement of a cover onto most types of mine waste including tailings, waste rock and/or spent heap leach rock at closure of the mine. This month's feature article on Hydromine introduces a general methodology for designing covers to be placed on mine waste storage facilities. The article stresses the importance of designing a cover based on the predicted impacts on the ecosystem (e.g. surface or groundwater quality), resulting in site-specific cover performance criteria...more

• The Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development program (MMSD) for North America represents a major effort on the part of mining industry to mend its relationships and engage activist groups and the general public. As a follow-up to the release of its final report "Towards Change" (see below), the following documents have been released:
  
  • A personal evaluation of the MMSD process by its Facilitator
  • A status report of follow-up activities


• The 9th Billings Land Reclamation Symposium and 20th Annual Meeting of American Society of Mining & Reclamation is scheduled for the week of June 3-6, 2003, in Billings, Montana. Click here for more conference details.
  
  Other reclamation websites of interest include:
  
  • Reclamation Research Unit at Montana State University
  • Ecosystem Restoration Site
  • ReclamationMine on Infomine (NEW!)

• Under the mandate of the International Network on Acid Prevention (INAP), Lorax Environmental has been amassing information on state-of-the-art treatment technologies for sulphate remediation. While there is considerable information on the nature of these technologies, there is few data on their performance at actual mine sites. Lorax is looking for case studies where these treatment strategies have been employed and where there is supporting documentation on performance, costs, operational experience, etc. Please contact Jay McNee or Jan Gerits if you can help. More info...



• The British Columbia Ministry of Mines and the MEND Program in association with the Technical and Research Committee on Reclamation are presenting the following workshop:
  • 9th Annual British Columbia ML/ARD Workshop, Dec. 4-5, 2002
  
  
• The University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue, in collaboration with The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, are presenting the following:
  • The first Symposium on Mines and the Environment in Rouyn-Noranda, Nov. 2-5, 2002.

• The Relevance of Alternative Lixiviants with Regard to Technical Aspects, Work Safety and Environmental Safety. (a courtesy of CyPlus®)

July, 2002

• CANMET, NRCan has published their first newsletter for the Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Initiative in Canada
• The ARD 'slime' seen at many mine sites has been dubbed Ferroplasma acidarmanus by a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. More information can be found at the DOE's Joint Genome Institute and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
  
  Ferroplasma acidarmanus.
  Photo from Iron Mountain, California courtesy S. Shaw.

June, 2002

• The "Northwest Field School" in Smithers, B.C. is offering two courses again this year on metal leaching and acid rock drainage. They are:
  • Prediction of Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage: Theory and Practice (August 19-23, 2002)
  • Introduction to Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage (September 16-20, 2002).
  For more information, contact smithersinfo@nwcc.bc.ca
• A links page related to Sustainable Development for the mining industry has been created.
• In the theme of sustainability, please have a look at Teckcominco's 2001 Sustainability Report, a very good example of such a report.

• In the theme of sustainability, please have a look at Teckcominco's 2001 Sustainability Report, a very good example of such a report.
• ICMM's Toronto Declaration arising from the Global Mining Initiative's conference May 12-15th, 2002.
• The MMSD Final Report entitled Breaking New Ground: Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development is now available in PDF format on the International Institute for Environment and Development (iied) website.
• Abstracts for the ICARD 2003 due by May 30, 2002.

• A series of pages on Mine Closure have been added to EnviroMine
• Search the InfoMine Publications Database for papers related to Acid Rock Drainage

• Check out the interactive hydrogeology tools on EduMine.
  
• We've added a number of standard procedures to the website.
  
• Contact Shannon if you'd like to add some procedures of your own.