Dr. Michel Aubertin: Mine Wastes Management @ RIME Part 1

Dr. Michel Aubertin is the Scientific Director of the Research Institute on Mines and Environment (RIME UQAT-Polytechnique) and a professor at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. Dr. Aubertin gives a keynote presentation on work at the Research Institute of Mines and Environment (RIME). This is Part 1 of the presentation. He introduces the principles of waste rock management, both open pit and underground. He also discusses the challenges of tailings after processing the ore. RIME has been dealing mainly with hard rock mines; the low concentration of minerals in the ore produces sizeable quantities of waste rock and tailings from Quebec mines. Dr. Aubertin emphasizes waste rock piles are not dumps; they are engineered structures. He discusses the knowledge gained in the twelve years that the Research Chair has existed at Polytechnique Montreal and UQAT, and explains the significance of the partnerships between the universities, government and industry companies such as Lamgold and Osisko. The benefits of the collaboration include such benefits as: the new lab facilities in both university locations, the 139 graduate students hired to do research, and the 120 academic papers published. Dr. Aubertin describes the details of several projects, including: improving surface disposal of tailings, optimizing surface disposal of waste rock, and water quality production - including mathematical modeling of the hydro-chemical processes. Dr. Michel Aubertin gave this keynote presentation at the Tailings and Mine Waste conference in Banff, Alberta on November 5, 2013.