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Tailings reclamation with Vale wins award

Copper Cliff site experiment with Burlington-based company earns accolades from Water Environment Association of Ontario
Vale
Vale Canada partnered with environmental solutions provider Terrapure to regreen its Copper Cliff tailings area using biosolids during winter months to create an alternative means to reclaim old mining sites. The project has earned an award.

An experiment using waste material to regreen the Copper Cliff tailings area has been met with positive results and earned an award.

Vale Canada partnered with Terratec Environmental, a division of environmental solutions provider Terrapure, to experiment with biosolids, a type of waste material, for mine reclamation.

A news release said Terrapure established a new, sustainable option for managing biosolids during winter months, when farmland application is prohibited and storage is complicated.

Instead of disposing of a nutrient-rich resource through incineration or landfill, Terratec developed a program to apply biosolids to mine-impacted land for reclamation and revegetation.

To prove its viability, Terrapure worked with Vale Canada to pilot the program in April 2014 at their Copper Cliff tailings area in the Greater Sudbury area. Vale had tried conventional methods to remediate inactive tailings sites in the past, but all had been costly with varying levels of success.

By using biosolids, Vale was able to greatly offset conventional reclamation costs –which include extracting and transporting virgin soil from neighbouring land –and get the results they were looking for.

Since first applying the biosolids, Vale has observed a clear increase in volume and health of vegetation. Wildlife is also returning, including large flocks of Canada geese, Sandhill cranes, black bears and white tail deer – a first for the inactive tailings area. To date, the project has diverted over 23,000 dry tonnes (about 80,000 wet tonnes) of biosolids from disposal, and 150 hectares of mine-impacted lands are now able to provide a natural habitat.

Acknowledging this significant contribution to the field, the Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) presented Terrapure and Vale with the 2018 Exemplary Biosolids Management Award.

“The program is the first of its kind in Ontario, so we’re excited to see that it’s gaining momentum; the mining industry is now identifying biosolids as a key strategy in mine closure scenarios,” said Jeff Newman, director of business development at Terratec. “This approach is a real win-win. Municipalities get an off-season biosolids management alternative, and mining companies get an effective tailings cover system.”