ABSTRACT
This paper presents an overview of the tailings disposal methodology and tailings retention dike design used at Nanisivik Mine, situated near the northern end of Baffin Island. Due to the extraction of potable water from one of the lakes adjacent to the tailings disposal area, the tailings disposal area was divided into an upper Surface Cell for solids retention and a lower Reservoir for the storage of supernatant water. A frozen-shale, upstream-constructed dike is used to retain the solids and to separate the Surface Cell from the Reservoir. The paper reviews the construction methodology used for this novel retention dike and the dike performance to-date. It also reviews a seepage event that occurred in 1999 and the lessons learned from that event.
