ABSTRACT
The Mineral Hill Mine in Jardine, Montana was an underground gold mine operated most recently from 1989 to 1996. Final reclamation of the site is in progress and is expected to be complete by 2002. Processing involved milling, cyanide leaching in tanks, and Merrill-Crowe recovery of metals. Tailings were disposed dry in a lined facility following vacuum filtration (disk filter).
The original plan for reclamation of the tailings was to use a clay cap to produce a barrier to infiltration and seepage. In the evolution from reclamation concept to final closure design and implementation, a vegetative water balance cover (VWBC) was chosen instead of the clay cap. The VWBC received all required State and federal agency approvals and was installed during 2000 and 2001.
This paper provides a case study of the optimization process that led to development of the VWBC concept and site-specific reasons why a VWBC was selected instead of the clay cap for this project.
