Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

The objective of the research is to assess sensor based for the cleanup of legacy mining waste dumps that leachx000D
acid and metals into the environment. During the mining activity, ore is mined and processed to recoverx000D
valuable metals. There are two main forms a waste materials including tailings and coarse waste rock. For thex000D
past 40 years mining operations have managed and remediated the waste dumps to prevent weather and metalx000D
leaching, referred to as acid rock drainage. However, historically, created waste dumps without remediationx000D
such that the abandoned legacy mine sites release acid waters and metals into the environment.x000D
Sensor based sorting technologies have evolved in the past 15 years and are increasingly finding application inx000D
the mining industry. These technologies use sensors such as x-ray transmission and x-ray fluorescence tox000D
predict the sulphur or metal content of rocks. In the sorting machine, the rocks flow on a conveyor or across ax000D
chute sensing each rock and then triggering an actuator to deflect selected rocks. The research will test thex000D
technology on a selected waste rock dump in order to determine if sulphide mineral content of the wastex000D
material can be reduced sufficiently to reduce or eliminate the acid rock drainage.