Mine Closure and Reclamation ⎯ Some Practical Examples in Different Climatic Settings

Authors: Barrett, S; Beale, G; Reidel, J Download Paper

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/605_37

Cite As:
Barrett, S, Beale, G & Reidel, J 2006, 'Mine Closure and Reclamation ⎯ Some Practical Examples in Different Climatic Settings', in AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2006: Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 453-462, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/605_37



Abstract:
A number of major open pit hard rock mines have undergone closure over the past few years. These closed operations provide a unique opportunity to compare actual geochemical conditions with those predicted, and to identify factors which had the greatest influence on the success of closure implementation. This paper presents an overview of the open pit closure programs for the Sleeper mine in Nevada USA; the Golden Cross mine in New Zealand; and the Kori Kollo mine in Bolivia. In each of these cases, the local climate had a significant influence on the closure measures selected. Sleeper was the first of the current generation of large open pit gold mines in the western United States. The mine was rapidly flooded and a productive 200 m deep lake has been created. Golden Cross includes an open pit and several phases of underground workings, dating from the early 1900s. Following closure, the pit is allowed to free drain to an adjacent river. Kori Kollo lies next to the Rio Desaguadero and was the largest open pit mine on the Andean altiplano. Upon closure, it was necessary to design a flooding program to induce stratification in the pit lake.

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