A viable and scalable mineral processing approach to facilitate long-term sustainable remediation of abandoned/orphaned small-to-medium tailings sites (less than 1 million tonnes). The key challenge for remediating these sites is the ability to access processing facilities and transportation, without incurring prohibitive costs.
The opportunity and benefits for tailings remediation include the ability to:
• Convert sites that currently pose hazardous effects to humans, animals and plants to environmentally benign sites that meet government discharge standards to water and air.
• Minimize the cost of long term care and maintenance of the sites.
• Recover economic mineral in the form of saleable concentrates to assist in mitigating the cost of site remediation.
To date, a fully integrated roadmap detailing all the activities has been prepared. It outlines the objectives
(business and technology), identifies the project management systems and processes, methodology and approach, scope, timelines, budget estimates, potential stakeholders, project framework and responsibilities.
Initial discussions with the Ministry of Northern Development & Mines were positive and a Crown controlled
site approximately 100,000 tonnes in size near Sudbury was selected as a typical site for the pilot project demonstration proposal. A full project plan has been prepared which would incorporate all the elements of the modular pilot plant approach. Funding is now actively being sought for this project.
