What is a tailings pond used for?
Tailings ponds are engineered dam and dyke facilities used for storage of tailings materials. Tailing ponds are also used to enable water to separate from the tailings. Water from the tailings ponds is recycled back into the extraction process, reducing the use of fresh water from the Athabasca River and other sources.
What do they mine for in Magna Utah?
In 1907, the Utah Copper mill in Magna started operation. Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated merged in 1910. In 1936, Kennecott acquired all the assets of the Utah Copper Company. During World War II, Bingham set new world records for copper mining and produced about 30% of the copper used by the Allies.
What is a tailing waste pond?
Tailing ponds are areas of refused mining tailings where the waterborne refuse material is pumped into a pond to allow the sedimentation (meaning separation) of solids from the water. The pond is generally impounded with a dam, and known as tailings impoundments or tailings dams.
What happened to Kennecott copper Company?
Kennecott Corporation, the world’s leader in copper output throughout most of the 20th century, had by 1997 ceased to exist as a separate entity. That year it was divided into a group of wholly owned subsidiaries of the British metals and mining company Rio Tinto plc.
Are tailings ponds safe?
Research from Canada’s environmental agency has shown that tailings ponds in the tar sands region have leached potentially deadly toxins into land and groundwater, and First Nations tribes and environmentalists have blamed those leaching chemicals from the tar sands on rare cancer clusters.
Are tailings ponds lined?
Tailings ponds are lined with compacted sand and a layer of fine clay. The clay has a low permeability rate which helps prevent tailings water from seeping into the groundwater.
Are tailing ponds toxic?
There are several environmental concerns that are associated with the existence of tailings ponds. The main problem with the ponds is that they include toxic and harmful chemicals such as ammonia, mercury, and naphthenic acids. The water containing these chemicals is toxic to animals, particularly aquatic organisms.
How big are tailings ponds?
about 77 square kilometres
Size and scope By 2013, the Government of Alberta reported that tailings ponds covered an area of about 77 square kilometres (30 sq mi). According to a Calgary Herald article, by September 2017, the tailings ponds held c. “1.2 trillion litres of contaminated water” and covered about 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi).
Who owns the Kennecott copper mine in Utah?
Rio Tinto Zinc
Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) Corporation purchased Kennecott in 1989 and continued the company’s expansion. In 1990 a fourth grinding line at a cost of $220,000,000 was begun at the Copperton Concentrator, and it was completed in 1992.