Following the completion of the MEND and MEND 2000 programs, a new multi-stakeholder program called “MEND3″ was initiated in 2001. The objective of MEND3 is to conduct carefully focused Canadian national and/or regional research that will improve environmental performance and stewardship for industry and civil society and reduce financial liability associated with acid rock drainage and metal leaching through a variety of techniques including prediction, pollution prevention and control. To launch MEND3, this project was commissioned to determine where research activities should be focused.
The findings of this study are based on input received through a questionnaire distributed by email and through the MEND web site, three workshops in Toronto, Yellowknife and Vancouver, and telephone conversations. In total, 94 individuals provided input. The questionnaire provided opinions on technology gaps, whereas the workshops and telephone conversations provided additional input on the challenges MEND3 may face.
The challenges identified included low commodity prices (which will limit funding from mining companies), government funding cuts as deficits are addressed, and pressure to demonstrate technology application to a much broader community than in the 1980s and 1990s.
Workshops participants identified the need to demonstrate the application of existing technologies through technology transfer programs such as compilation of high quality case studies to demonstrate long-term performance of technologies, sponsorship of technical meetings, partnership with other international programs, and development of broad information materials to strengthen the understanding of the issues by institutions and the general public.
The widest technology gaps lay in the prediction of the behaviour of underground mines, open pit mines and waste rock piles; application of blending of waste rock and/or tailings as a control measure; suitability of alternatives to conventional dry soil covers; application of low temperatures to ARD prevention and control; use of passive water treatment systems; and understanding of the chemistry of elements mobile under non-acidic conditions.
The benefits of research in these areas to meet MEND3’s objective will be partly regional and specific to the phase of mine operation. Research on underground mines will have a national benefit, whereas open pit mines and large waste rock piles are primarily located in western Canada. Blending is applicable to proposed and operating mines where new facilities are being designed. The development of alternative cover materials will be beneficial primarily to the remediation of historic mine sites in eastern Canada with large tailings deposits. Research on the application of low temperatures will primarily benefit the diamond mines in Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but will also be applicable to the closure of historic mines in permafrost regions.
