RECLAMATION SUCCESS

Big Springs Tailings Facility

 

Big Springs Tailings Facility

The Big Springs gold mining and milling complex is located 90 km north of Elko, Nevada. The mine, which operated between 1988 and 1994, is owned by AngloGold Corp. Following mill closure in 1994, the tailings facility has been used for site water management and for continued gold recovery. During the summer of 2000, the Big Springs tailings facility was reclaimed. Reclamation was carried out over a construction period from mid-July through September.

 

Photo from Mining Environmental Management magazine: Aerial photograph of the Big Springs tailings storage facility.

AngloGold uses a typical reclamation seed mixture of 18 native grasses, forbs, and shrubs, and four non-native grasses, forbs and shrubs. This mixture promotes soil stabilization, minimizes erosion, and maximizes the short-term evaporation of water from the cover. Vegetation appears to be successful. Plant density and diversity will be quantified in the future to assess whether vegetation meets bond release criteria.
"From an article by Jonathan Gorman, Robert Reisinger and Donald East featured in Mining Environmental Management Magazine."

Grading of the facility was successfully completed using a fleet of scrapers and tracked dozers. Additional tailings and embankment fill materials were pushed and compacted onto the adjacent undisturbed tailings. The trafficability of the placed and compacted tailings and the drained and compacted nature of the underlying tailings eliminated the need for multiple access roads. After final grading was achieved, a 900 mm-thick cover was installed. Cover included 600 mm of fine-grained soils found on-site, followed by a 300 mm thickness of material obtained from plant growth medium salvage areas. AngloGold seeded the covered facility during the third quarter of 2000 using a seed mix based on its experience at the Big Springs site and other operations in the area.
Scraper excavating tailings on the storage facility. Vegetation approximately 7 months after seeding.

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