Surface water management is a significant challenge for the mining industry. In cold regions, snow accumulation on tailings storage facilities (TSFs) represents an important component of the annual water inventory. Thus, the high water flows generated during snowmelt can significantly impact TSFs as well as water management and treatment structures. Snowmelt is critical for mine waste storage and management structures. In this context, a snow management pile approach has been developed to control snowmelt and reduce the peak flows observed during spring runoff on TSFs. This conference aims to present the results of pilot tests conducted to optimize the configuration and construction method of snow management piles. These tests required the construction of six snow management pile configurations, which were implemented on two TSFs and monitored for two consecutive seasons. The melting behavior, measured by remote sensing and in situ measurements, is used to understand the mechanisms and optimize the design parameters that govern performance. The ability of civil and specialized construction equipment to efficiently build snow management piles was also investigated. Finally, digital tools were used to further optimize the configuration and provide guidelines for the safe construction of snow management piles on TSFs. This new approach is now available to reduce geotechnical and environmental risks associated with spring floods on TSFs.
Vincent Boulanger-MartelVincent Boulanger-Martel has been a professor at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) since 2020. Vincent has expertise in the reclamation of mine sites in arctic climates, geotechnical engineering for cold regions, analysis of the thermo-hydro-geotechnical behavior of frozen soils and mine tailings, and thermal and hydrogeological modeling. His research focuses on the design of cover systems for tailings storage facilities in cold regions and the evaluation of the robustness of covers to limit long-term sulfide oxidation in the context of climate change. He is also interested in the applications of remote sensing for monitoring mining structures, characterizing the geotechnical properties of geomaterials and mine tailings, and evaluating the durability of materials against freeze-thaw cycles. Finally, he develops new approaches for snow monitoring and management on mining sites to reduce the risks associated with spring runoff.
Free for members and non-members.
Le Rendez-Vous du Comité Francophone de l'ACB is a periodic event (virtual and/or face-to-face) during which members of the committee receive a variety of presenters and guests to address and discuss various topics related to dams.
More informal and interactive than traditional webinars, this activity sometimes takes the form of a presentation, sometimes a discussion, and sometimes both.
