MONTANA ENPAR TECHNOLGIES of Toronto has completed successful field tests of its patented acid mine drainage electrochemical cover (AmdEL) technology. The field research was carried out on low-sulphide tailings from the Golden Sunlight mine by MSE TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS at its facility in Butte. The project was supported by the Mine Waste Technology Program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Over a two-year period tailings were placed in four separate in-ground test cells. Two cells were electrochemically enhanced and two control cells were untreated. Acid-base accounting was used as the indicator of sulphide oxidation. One of the electrochemically-enhanced cells retained 100% of its original sulphide content in the upper layer of the tailings, whereas the untreated cells contained less than 1% total sulphide sulphur at the end of the demonstration.
Details of Enpar's AmdEL technology are available at www.Enpar-Tech.com. The company believes its new product is suitable for treating tailings, waste rock piles or bedrock.
Comments