Assessment of acid rock drainage pollutants release in the uranium mining site of Pocos de Caldas - Brazil

We compared three different techniques to assess acid drainage occurrence connected to pyritic waste rock piles at a uranium mining and milling site in Pocos de Caldas - Brazil: (I) mass balance calculations, (2) column leaching experiments and (3) geochemical modelling. The study site was chosen because all the drainage coming from the pile is collected in one holding pond and a huge database (monitoring program) was available. The three independent methods predicted similar values for the intrinsic oxidation rate (IOR) (about 10(-9) kg m(-3) s(-1)). We estimate the total time for consumption of all oxidizable material in the dump to be greater than 500 years. Geochemical model results showed a good agreement between predicted sulphate concentrations in relation to those found in the waste pile drainage, although the Al values were overestimated and pH values were underestimated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.