AF: BGC Engineering Inc., 500 - 1045 Howe St., Vancouver, BC V6Z2A9 Canada
AU: Wepruk, R
EM: Randy.Wepruk@goldcorp.com
AF: Goldcorp, Red Lake Mine , Balmertown, ON P0V 1C0 Canada
AU: * Beckie, R
EM: rbeckie@eos.ubc.ca
AF: Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4 Canada
AB: Through 50 years of operations, arsenic-bearing tailings were produced at a gold mine in Ontario and deposited in a number of surface impoundments and ponds at the mine site. The tailings composition was dependent upon the mineral processing methods employed through time: roasting, cyanidation and sulphide flotation. Tailings and pond sediments were characterized by whole rock analysis, scanning electron microscopy, Rietveld refined powder X-ray diffraction, sequential extractions, x-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) and x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS). High aqueous arsenic concentrations were found to be associated with arsenic - bearing iron oxyhydroxides contained in historical roaster -derived tailings and tailings pond sediments. Under reducing conditions, a significant portion of the arsenic in these wastes is likely to be mobilized. Arsenic, primarily in the form of arsenopyrite, is found at relatively low concentrations in the freshly produced tailings, and is likely to remain stable if the tailings can be maintained under anaerobic, water-saturated conditions. Field and laboratory experiments suggest that arsenic may be immobilized as an undetermined sulphide phase under strongly reducing conditions.
DE: 1806 Chemistry of fresh water
DE: 1045 Low-temperature geochemistry
DE: 1065 Trace elements (3670)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting