JEB Uranium Tailings Management Facility Approach to Closure Soil Cover and Landform Design

Jason Stianson, Greg Misfeldt, Anil Beersing, Dale Huffman

In the proceedings of: GeoRegina 2014: 67th Canadian Geotechnical Conference

Session: Uranium Tailings Management

ABSTRACT: AREVA Resources Canada Inc., (AREVA) is the operator of the McClean Lake Operation and recently undertook a project to expand the storage capacity of the existing JEB Tailings Management Facility (TMF). The expansion of the TMF involved raising the maximum allowable tailings elevation in the pit. The geometry of the TMF is such that raising the tailings elevation increased the surface area, adding to the amount of atmospheric water infiltrating into the tailings. An engineered soil cover and landform were designed to limit the infiltration of atmospheric water into the tailings. The soil cover and landform needed to promote the sustainable management of surface water through run off and evapotranspiration, while subject to the climate conditions in northern Saskatchewan. The paper describes how the soil cover and landform design were undertaken to meet the requirements of the expansion project. RÉSUMÉ AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (AREVA) est l'opérateur de l'établissement de McClean Lake et a récemment entrepris un projet pour agrandir l'installation de gestion des résidus (IGR) de JEB pour augmenter le volume du stockage des résidus produits par les activités de préparation du minerai. L'expansion de l'IGR a impliqué élever l'élévation maximum de résidus permis dans la fosse. La géométrie de l'IGR est telle qu'élever l'élévation maximum de résidu augmente la région de la surface et ajoute à l'infiltration d'eau de l'atmosphère dans les résidus. Une couverture de sol et un relief ont été conçus pour limiter l'infiltration. La couverture du sol et le relief devaient être conçu pour promouvoir la gestion durable des eaux de surface par ruissellement et évapotranspiration, tout en étant soumis à des conditions climatiques dans le nord de la Saskatchewan. L'article décrit comment la conception de la couverture du sol et le relief ont été entrepris selon les exigences du projet d'expansion. 1 INTRODUCTION The JEB TMF is the repository for tailings resulting from uranium processing at the McClean Lake Operation's JEB Mill. Based on current mining projections, approximately 5.0 million m3 of tailings will be generated over the next 25 years of operation at the McClean Lake Operation. The tailings storage available in the JEB TMF is approximately 0.5 million m3 resulting in a need for an estimated 4.5 million m3 of additional tailings storage volume to support the current milling forecast. Various alternatives to obtain additional storage capacity were considered including storage within existing pits at the McClean Lake Operation, development of a purpose built TMF, and expansion of the existing JEB TMF (Misfeldt et al. 2014). The preferred option was to optimize current tailings storage and expand the capacity of the existing JEB TMF. Expansion of the JEB TMF involves raising the allowable tailings elevation by approximately 30 m increasing the storage capacity by approximately 4.5 million m3 to provide the required tailings storage estimated from the 25 year milling forecast. The project involved a series of studies to examine i) the construction of an embankment around the JEB TMF perimeter and placement of a processed waste rock bentonite/till liner to contain the operating pond throughout operations (Vu et al. 2014a, Vu et al. 2014b) ii) relocation of infrastructure affected by the Project footprint, iii) flow and transport studies, and iv) decommissioning of the JEB TMF including placement of a low permeable soil cover and associated landform design. This paper describes the soil cover and landform design conducted to support the expansion of the JEB TMF and is closely linked to the large scale flow and solute transport study which showed that measures to minimize infiltration must be incorporated into the TMF design to expand tailings storage and maintain acceptable water quality in adjacent lakes. 2 BACKGROUND The general layout for the JEB TMF expansion project is shown in Figure 1 including the raised tailings deposit just prior to soil cover placement and the re-configured waste rock pile. The JEB TMF is conical in shape resulting in a geometry where the surface area of the tailings deposit increases as the tailings elevation increases. The expanded surface area increases the potential amount of atmospheric water infiltrating into the deposit and a potential increase in the transport of constituents from the tailings deposit.

RÉSUMÉ: ranium Tailings Management Facility Approach

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Jason Stianson; Greg Misfeldt; Anil Beersing; Dale Huffman (2014) JEB Uranium Tailings Management Facility Approach to Closure Soil Cover and Landform Design in GEO2014. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GeoRegina14Paper400,author = Jason Stianson; Greg Misfeldt; Anil Beersing; Dale Huffman,title = JEB Uranium Tailings Management Facility Approach to Closure Soil Cover and Landform Design,year = 2014}