Abstract
While pit lakes can pose potential risks to the environment and liabilities to mining companies, they may also present opportunities for sustainable end uses, if managed appropriately. The Springer Pit Lake and Mount Polley Mine provided an opportunity to store mine waste such as tailings and mill process water while the mine repaired its tailings storage facility after a breach in its perimeter embankment, which released tailings to the downstream environment in 2014. 1 year after the breach, a water treatment plant was installed so that the pit lake could be drawn down. Frequent monitoring of water quality in the pit, combined with a calibrated and verified water quality model, shows that water quality is improving. Based on the observations that tailings, suspended solids, and associated constituents are being removed efficiently by the pit, the treatment plant was reconfigured to a “passive” mode, which did not entail the use of reagents or mechanical energy—only in-line instrumentation.
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