Abstract
A geochemical study was completed as part of an Environmental Assessment Report for De Beers Canada Inc. Snap Lake diamond mine located in the Canadian Northwest Territories. The deposit will be mined using underground methods and consists of a diamond bearing planar kimberlite dyke dipping at about 15 degrees, hosted in metavolcanic and granite rock. Processing will include grinding of the kimberlite ore and a gravity separation circuit on this ore which will result in processed kimberlite waste including a coarse fraction and a finer fraction which will be used to produce a cemented paste backfill material. The cemented paste composed of processed kimberlite, dilution rock, and cement is thickened to a paste-like consistency and will be used to fill the mine voids. The study discussed in this paper was completed to evaluate potential leachate chemistry of the alkaline cemented paste backfill material slated for use underground. The laboratory test program included solids testing, short-term leach testing, and longer-term kinetic testing on a variety of cemented paste blends and additives. Results show that the pH of the leachate remained alkaline for subaqueous test cells and decreased over time for sub-aerial test cells. Geochemical speciation modeling using PHREEQC that was completed to further evaluate leachate chemistry for site specific conditions indicated probable solubility constraints due to secondary mineral precipitation for parameters calcium, chromium, manganese and nickel.
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