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APSC 150 Case Study 3 Sustainable Mining - is that possible?

APSC 150 Case Study 3 Sustainable Mining - is that possible?. John A. Meech, Professor and Director Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, and Materials (CERM3). Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. Who am I?. John Meech

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APSC 150 Case Study 3 Sustainable Mining - is that possible?

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  1. APSC 150Case Study 3Sustainable Mining- is that possible? John A. Meech, Professor and Director Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, and Materials (CERM3) Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

  2. Who am I? John Meech • Professor and Director of CERM3 (Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, and Materials) • Room 508D in the Forward Building • Email: jameech@gmail.com • Office: (604)-822-3984

  3. Lectures Part 1: Protecting the Environment Lecture 1: Sustainable Mining – Is that possible? 25/02 Lecture 2: ARD & the Millennium Plug 27/02 Lecture 3: Confined Spaces in Mine Reclamation 01/03

  4. Lectures Part 2: Protecting the Workers Lecture 4: Movie: Mine Rescue in Chile 04/03 Lecture 5: Mine Rescue at UBC 06/03

  5. Lectures Part 3: Automation and Process Control Lecture 6: Process Automation in Mining 08/03 Lecture 7: Fuzzy Logic Control Systems 11/03 Lecture 8: Autonomous Haulage Trucks 13/03

  6. Tutorials / Assignments 1: Metal Recovery from Britannia Mine Effluent - 2 parts 2: Mine Safety Issues - 2 parts 3: Mine Automation – Fuzzy Control

  7. } } Part 1: The Environment • The Miner of the 21st Century must know: • How to monitor emissions • How to protect the environment • How to restore a mine site back to other uses • How to get along with the neighbours • Mining today is a balance of three elements: • Techno-economic issues • Environmental issues • Socio-political issues Sustainable Mining

  8. Who is a Miner? • An Engineer with many skills • Technical and Economic • Leadership and Management • Vision and Career Direction • Mining and Mineral Processing • Ore Identification and Mine/Plant Design • Mine Operation (Drilling, Blasting, Loading, Hauling) • Beneficiation (Liberation, Separation, & Extraction) • Environmental Control & Safety

  9. What is CERM3? A multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to conducting environmental research for the mining industry • CERM3 Mission Statement • Foster High Regard for Sustainable Mining • Develop Innovative Methods to Ensure the Future Sustainability of the Mining Industry • Train the Next Generation of Mining Engineers to Meet the New Demands of the 21st Century • Improve the Image of Mining in Society

  10. What is Sustainable Mining? • How can we possibly mine sustainably? • When mined, ore bodies are depleted X • Land is consumed X • Land is restored (reclaimed/remediated)  • Communities are sustained  • Best practices are used  • Care and respect is paid to First Nations 

  11. Environmental Monitoring and Control • Hydrosphere: • Acid Rock Drainage - pH and metallic ion pollution • Atmosphere: • SO2 Atmospheric Emission - acid rain • Dust • CO2 emissions (and other GHGs) • Arsenic from some gold mining operations • Mercury from artisanal mining operations • Lithosphere: • Storage of solid waste (tailings and waste rock) • dust • slope stability • effluent and solid emissions (catastrophic) • landscape impacts (aesthetic)

  12. Community Issues • First Nations and Aboriginal People • land claims and land use • employment • traditional use and cultural issues • Long-term Stability of Small Communities • creating parallel industries and businesses • providing education and health care • training and apprenticeship programs • governance of the community • mine closure planning • Global Sustainability • poverty reduction in the Third World • cleaning up small-scale and/or legacy mining sites • responsible operation: First World standards • sharing rewards with local communities

  13. Sustainable Decision-making Economic Issues • size and grade and type of orebody • available infrastructure (roads, rail, water, power) • market conditions and transportation costs • raw materials supply Technical Issues • standard processes and procedures • innovation (Who wants to be first?) • automation = Improved Performance and Morale • safety of the work force and local communities Socio-Political Issues • respect for local customs and governance • risk of political uprisings • risk of losing social licence to mine • environmental effects (water, air, landscape)

  14. Gold Associated with Quartz

  15. Pouring a Gold Bar

  16. Canadian Diamonds

  17. 99.999% Copper (5-9s)

  18. But besides the Reward, what else? • Before mining • During operation • After operation – plan for the neighbourhood – protect the environment – plan for closure – mitigate/restore the site – sustain the communities – sustain the company

  19. Antamina Tailings Dam, Peru

  20. Reclamation at Bluebell Mine

  21. Island Copper Site Reclamation After 20 years of operation, the Island Copper Mine began reclaiming its waste dumps in 1996. Tailings were discharged deep into the adjacent fjord known as Rupert Inlet.

  22. Island Copper Pit Flooding Pit was flooded with sea water to create a meromictic lake – 3 layers: Top – clean water; Middle – a reactor for surface ARD; Bottom – retain precipitated solids.

  23. Island Copper Pit Flooding Pit was flooded with sea water to create a 3-layer meromictic lake: Top – clean water; Middle – a reactor for surface ARD; Bottom – retain precipitated solids.

  24. Mill EZD – Euphotic depth UWD – Upwelling depth MLD – Mixed Layer depth Deep Sea Disposal of Tailings Mill EZD – Euphotic depth UWD – Upwelling depth MLD – Mixed Layer depth

  25. Reclaimed slopes – Bullmoose Mine, B.C.

  26. Reclaimed pit – Igarapé Bahia, Amazon

  27. Mark Creek, Kimberley • Sullivan mine reclamation activities at Mark Creek, Kimberley

  28. Reclaimed Meadow – Luscar Coal, AB

  29. Tailings Reclamation at Vale-Inco

  30. Flooded Pits – ARD source

  31. Three-lift Tailings Dam

  32. Tailings Dam failure – Los Frailes, Spain

  33. Safety in Mining – slope stability

  34. Reclamation at Bullmoose Igarapé Bahia Gold Mine, Carajas, Amazon Gregg River Coal Mine Hinton, Alberta Imagine… • A Mine that isGreenand Clean • Where • People live, work, and play safely and local communities can rely on a long-term future • First Nations work and learn about Mining in a climate that respects their heritage and culture • Protection of the environment is paramount and Society’s image of Mining is high

  35. Imagine… • The Centre for Environmental Research • in Minerals, Metals, & Materials • That is • Located at UBC-Vancouver and at Britannia Beach • Linked virtually to institutions involved with Mining • Addressing small-scale mining • Conducting environmental research, and outreaching to communities • Developing methods to increase safety, reduce costs and improve productivity

  36. Research Team Leaders • Ten world-renowned researchers in • their respective fields lead the work Dirk Van Zyl Malcolm Scoble John Meech Life Cycle Analysis Waste Management Automation Mineral Processing Sustainable Mining Mine Design Patrick Condon Dave Dreisinger Hydrometallurgy Heap Leaching Landscape Architecture Liveable Communities Sustainable Mining Mineral Processing Mine-Mill Integration Epidemiology Bridge Program Bern Klein Kay Teschke Mining Equipment Maintenance/Automation Sustainable Mining Soil Science Small-scale Mining Mercury Pollution Robert Hall Les Lavkulich Marcello Veiga

  37. Laval University Mining and Metallurgy King’s College London Mechanical Eng. Ecole Polytechnique Mining Helsinki University of Technology McGill University Mining and Metallurgy Royal Military Academy Mechanical Eng. Cardiff University Chemical Eng. Queen's University Mining University of Oulu Electrical Eng. Laurentian University Mining Tech. Univ. of Denmark Agricultural Sciences University of Alberta Civil/Mining Tohoku University Materials Research Institute Univ. of Saskatchewan Civil Eng. University of Siegen Inst. of Automatic Control University of Utah Mining University of Haifa Computational Mathematics New Mexico State Mining University of Queensland Sustainable Minerals Institute University of Chile Mining Massey University Soil and Earth Sciences CETEM Rio de Janeiro University of Capetown Chemical Engineering Uganda World Bank UNIDO Global Hg Project M.Eng. Program Research Collaborations • Extensive Links with International Collaborators Maintenance/ Equipment Robotics Phyto- Reclamation Waste Management ARD Treatment Bulk Mining Sustainable Mining Mineral Processing Super Computer

  38. UBC at Britannia Beach Britannia Beach UBC-CERM3 has been involved at Britannia Beach since 2001 when we installed a plug inside the 2200 Level tunnel to create a research facility. This plug had the “spin-off” benefit of eliminating all pollution flowing into Britannia Creek and the surface waters of Howe Sound.

  39. UBC to Britannia Beach Britannia Mine

  40. Millennium Plug Research Project Pollution Plume – pre 2001

  41. Millennium Plug Research Project Pollution Plume – pre 2001

  42. Outcome – September 2011 Return of Adult Pink Salmon to Britannia Creek Numerous Media Reports

  43. Performance of CERM3 (2001-2011) • Helped create Bridge Program linking health care, policy, and engineering • Bridge Program students wrote 3 successful CIHR proposals ($300,000) • UNIDO Global Mercury Project is managed under UBC-Mining • Large research efforts on Waste Management Methods • First group to address pollution problems at Britannia Mine • UBC-Mining has increased in population to over 300 people

  44. Decreased Energy in Mining Facilities: - Rock Fragmentation Lab - Simulation Lab - High-Pressure Grinding Roll Breakthrough Targets: - Integration of Mine/Mill processes - Reduced Comminution Energy - hyper-velocity strain rates - lower cost fragmentation

  45. Passive ARD Treatment Systems Facilities: - Constructed wetlands & greenhouse -Phytoreclamation & Microbiology labs Breakthrough Targets: - Protocols for passive ARD processes for use with high flow/high metals

  46. Phytoreclamation • In 2003, CERM3 and Massey University conducted • a full-scale field trial in Brazil for CVRD (Vale) to show that “phyto-mining” is possible. • Hyperaccumulation of Gold by Plants • in the ground in the plants target • 0.6 g Au/t >>> 60 g Au/t >>> 100 g Au/t Certain plants selectively accumulate metal ions from the ground – phyto-remediation/reclamation. 28/5/03 27/6/03 12/5/03 07/5/03 19/5/03

  47. Village of Noatak Science Class, Red Dog, Alaska Sustainable Mining and Communities • Led by • Dr. Malcolm Scoble • Dr. Marcello Veiga • Over 25 graduate students • Communities affected by Mining • Small-scale Mining • First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples The Mining Professionals of the 21st Century The Mining Professors of the 21st Century Jennifer Hinton (Ph.D. student) working with women in a Ugandan Mining Community Ginger Gibson (Ph.D. student) working with NWT Communities who work at Ekati Diamond Mine (Trudeau Scholar)

  48. Serra Pelada Pit, Amazon, Brazil, 1980 The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon

  49. The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon

  50. Serra Pelada Pit, Amazon, Brazil, 1980 The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon • Hg use in Gold-Mining

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