Electrical Resistivity Characterization of a Reclaimed Gold Mine to Delineate Acid Rock Drainage Pathways

Abstract

An electrical resistivity survey was completed at the Landusky mine. The survey consisted of 15 lines on the surface of the reclaimed Suprise pit, Queen Rose pit, and the region immediately south of Swift Gulch. Additionally, wells and seeps were used by energizing electrodes in direct contact with ground water to increase the sensitivity of the resistivity method at depth. The survey was conducted to locate potential acid rock drainage pathways that are contaminating Swift Gulch. The results showed that the lowest resistivity values were coincident with the Queen Rose pit. Furthermore, the low resistivity feature appeared to trend northeast along a known fault, consistent with the geologic understanding of the site. A scatter plot of resistivity values versus total dissolved solids (TDS) showed a strong correlation (R 2 = 0.85). A linear regression model suggests TDS at the lowest resistivity region to be approximately 2.5 times greater than that measured in ground water wells.

Integrated geophysical and geochemical study on AMD generation at the Haveri Au–Cu mine tailings, SW Finland

“…These factors may be the major determinants of the low resistivity anomalies detected in tailings impoundments, as observed by previously cited authors. For instance, Rucker et al (2009) presented a strong correlation between resistivity decrease and porewater composition with a correlation factor R 2 = 0.85 for electrical resistivity and TDS. Evidences of this at the Haveri tailings impoundment are: the higher resistivity values around test pit 40 (Zone IV) where the vadose tailings show considerably lower metal and S concentrations and lesser sulfide oxidation owing to higher moisture content; and lower resistivity values around test pit 24 (Zone I) where the metal and S concentrations are higher and sulfide oxidation is more advanced owing to lower moisture content.…”

“…Geophysical methods have increasingly demonstrated their potential to: delineate areas contaminated with potentially harmful elements and compounds and acidic seepage at industrial landfills and mine waste sites; define petrophysical properties and the internal structure of tailings impoundments and waste rock piles (Ebraheem et al 1990;Yuval and Oldenburg 1996;Campbell et al 1998;Campbell and Fitterman 2000;Painter et al 2000;Campbell and Horton 2001;Smith et al 2001;Buselli and Lu 2001;Vanhala and Lahti 2001;Shemang et al 2003;Guérin et al 2004;Chouteau et al 2005;Sjödahl et al 2005;Vanhala et al 2005;Martínez-Pagán et al 2009;Martín-Crespo et al 2010;Rucker et al 2009;Poisson et al 2009). Because the electrical properties of soils change as a function of mineral and porewater composition, grain-size variation and moisture content, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is a highly promising tool for investigating the internal structure of mine wastes that are controlled by water and oxygen fluxes responsible for sulfide oxidation and possible generation of acid mine drainage (AMD) (Chouteau et al 2005).…”

Electrical and Seismic Tomography Used to Image the Structure of a Tailings Pond at the Abandoned Kettara Mine, Morocco

“…These methods have also been used to define the petrophysical properties and internal structure of tailings impoundments and waste rock piles (Buselli and Lu 2001;Campbell and Fitterman 2000;Chouteau et al 2005;Guérin et al 2004;Martin-Crespo et al 2010;Martinez-Pagán et al 2009;Placencia-Gòmez et al 2010;Poisson et al 2009;Rucker et al 2009;Shemang et al 2003;Sjodahl et al 2005;Vanhala et al 2005). To monitor or decontaminate affected sites, a complete knowledge of their geology and hydrogeology is necessary, as is knowledge of the behaviour of the pollutants and their means and routes of transport.…”

Non-invasive flow path characterization in a mining-impacted wetland

“…The procedure is repeated for many di↵erent electrode locations and current configurations to develop a spatially distributed dataset of subsurface conductance (See Loke et al, 2013, for a recent review). ER has been previously used to image both the extent and concentrations of subsurface mining contamination (e.g., Oldenburg & Li, 1994;Rucker et al, 2009). However, these studies were limited in that they assumed a consistent relationship between resistivity and TDS (Day-Lewis et al, 2005), which, due to heterogeneities in the aquifer and in the resolution of the inversion, can be di cult to define (Singha & Gorelick, 2006).…”