Kinetic Testing and Sorption Studies by Modified Weathering Cells to Characterize the Potential to Generate Contaminated Neutral Drainage

Techniques developed for acid mine drainage (AMD) prediction might not be suitable for contaminated neutral drainage (CND) generating sites. The Tio mine waste is known to generate Ni contaminated neutral drainage in some of the piles, but humidity cell tests fail to generate the Ni concentrations observed in the field. Weathering cell tests (small-scale humidity cell tests) were performed on fresh and weathered (produced 25 years ago) waste rock samples from the Tio mine containing various levels of hemo-ilmenite ore, and results were compared to humidity cell results on similar samples. The main constituents of the waste rock are the hemo-ilmenite ore and the plagioclase gangue; these minerals were purified from the waste rocks and the purified fractions were also submitted to weathering cell tests. The fresh waste rock samples were also submitted to sorption cells (modified weathering cells), which showed that the waste rocks have an important Ni sorption potential and that the sorbed phases are stable under weathering cell conditions. Even though the Ni concentrations obtained from the laboratory tests remain significantly lower than those obtained in field conditions (from field test pads and from waste rock piles), the results from the present study give important insight into the geochemical processes implicated in CND generation.