Analysis of water quality data and experimental study of weathering products in mine waste rock.

摘要

Mine waste rock can produce acid rock drainage (ARD) when the constituent sulphide minerals (pyrite) oxidize upon exposure to the atmosphere. Several studies have been performed to develop and test techniques for preventing and controlling ARD. Water quality data (pH, sulphate, zinc and iron concentrations) obtained from one such study were analyzed using two-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) with repeated measurements and a 5% level of significance (p-value of 0.05). The results suggested that the various covers and amendment techniques tested can be grouped into four main classes in a decreasing order of effectiveness: (i) water cover, (ii) 1% and 3% limestone, (iii) clay, 1% and 3% PO;Weathering experiments (wet-dry cycles) were conducted on samples of waste rocks from Stratmat mine, New Brunswick and Selbaie mine, Quebec, Canada.;The results of the thesis show the benefits of using a combination of various techniques to evaluate and interpret experimental data. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).