ABSTRACT
Normal practice in Latin America for the waterproofing of heap leach pads involve the use of polymeric membranes (either HDPE or LLDPE) normally coupled with a medium-weight geotextile to protect the polymeric membrane liner from puncturing. Use of a bituminous geomembrane (BGM) for this application is conceptually appealing to the mining industry since it provides the waterproofing with a single geosynthetic as well as the elimination of an additional interface (polymeric membrane against geotextile) that may have an effect in the static and dynamic stability of the heap leach pile. A BGM manufacturer teamed with a large copper mine in Chile to test the puncture resistance of the BGM sandwiched between the overliner and the subgrade as well as the interface friction angles between the overliner and the BGM. This paper describes the test program, the results obtained and their significance for the heap leach pad.
