Operating for closure : life of mine waste management at Huckleberry Copper Mine

• Main Authors: Lighthall, Peter C., Martin, Todd, Christensen, Kent
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8464

Huckleberry Mine, which started operation in 1998 and is now scheduled to close in 2010, is an example of a mine that developed a life-of-mine waste management plan, and successfully stewarded the plan through the life of the operation. MEM’s ‘Guidelines for Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage at Minesites in British Columbia’ (ARD Guidelines) were being introduced at the time of the mine planning stages, and it was recognized that both tailings and a large proportion of the waste rock would be potentially acid generating. Huckleberry Mine was planned as one of the first mines in British Columbia to design and construct a major water retaining structure for co-disposal of PAG waste rock and tailings. This paper summarizes how Huckleberry developed its waste management strategy and how that strategy has been followed through the life of the mine.