Development of guidelines for operation and moniroting of mine dumps

• Main Authors: Lighthall, Peter C, Trenholme, Blair S
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12555

Mine dumps being developed in British Columbia are some of the world’s largest man-made structures. A number of recent failures of these dumps has prompted the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, in conjunction with other funding agencies, to commission a series of guidelines and studies to improve the safety and understanding of mine dumps. Klohn Leonoff Ltd. Prepared the Interim Guidelines for Operation and Monitoring of Mine Dumps. These Interim Guidelines developed operation, monitoring, safety, inspection and reporting criteria for operation dumps. Procedures for mine closure are presented along with monitoring and maintenance requirements for completed dumps. The responsibility for personnel involved with mine dump operations is defined. An empirical procedure is proposed for setting the maximum rate of dump crest advance. Standard forms are introduced for Mine Dump Inspections and for Failure Reporting.