Designing Effective Store-release Covers for the Long-Term Containment of Mine Waste - The Role of Vegetation (Stage 2)

Background	The design of store-release covers for sulfidic and non-sulfidic (e.g. bauxitic and hypersaline) wastes has been greatly assisted by such models as SoilCover and Vadose W. However, water balance modeling of waste dumps and tailings storage facilities is limited by the lack of readily available data on the transpiration characteristics of individual plant species and vegetative communities. Water-balance data for vegetated store-release covers is needed to assess the performance of existing covers, and contribute to improved design of future covers. Concurrently, there is an urgent need for a workable model that links into existing cover water balance models, and effectively describes annual water use as a function of weather, leaf area index, changes in root zone properties and cover construction technique.
Objectives	Determine which existing model(s) are suitable for modeling water balance of vegetation and soils of store-release covers, taking into account relevant ecological models and the need to link into existing cover models such as SoilCover, Vadose W and Hydrus-2D; Define the minimum data set required to operate models and evaluate store-release cover performance, and evaluate the performance of the selected model(s) using field data; Determine, for both sulfidic and bauxitic wastes storage facilities, how existing store-release covers are performing using detailed measurements of key parameters and the resulting spatial and temporal data sets, and modeling, where appropriate; and Using information obtained from the above, and related studies of native vegetation and cover materials, determine the optimal design for the future construction of vegetation store-release cover systems.
Outcomes	Significantly increased capacity for mining companies to model and quantify the contribution of vegetation associated with store-release covers, to hydrological processes occurring in waste storage facilities, both in Australia and overseas; Significantly increased understanding of the role of vegetation in existing cover performance, and the extent of variation in the function of store-release covers over time due to cover construction design (e.g. soil depth), climate, soil physical and chemical changes, and the likely effects of vegetation changes; Quantification of water uptake and on-site verification of the model predictions at a range of mines representative of the participating industries; and A significant expansion in the applicability of the findings and improved modeling capacity resulting in complementary research in Western Australia and eastern Australia, covering a wide range of climatic regions and vegetation communities.
Methodology	This Stage 2 project consists of two parallel components, viz. Reviewing prospective vegetation water use models and determining which model(s) are most suitable for modeling water balance of vegetation and soils of store-release covers, and also defining the minimum data set required for these models; and Conducting detailed measurements at a range of mines to assess cover performance and evaluate the selected model(s) and, from this, determining what influence cover design, climate and vegetation changes have on cover performance.
Project Team	Prof Derek Eamus - University of Technology Sydney (UTS); Dr Christoph Hinz and Dr Eric Veneklaas - University of Western Australia (UWA); Dr Thomas Baumgartl, Dr David Doley and Assoc Prof David Mulligan - University of Queensland's Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation (UQ); Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney; and PhD students at the University of Queensland and University of Western Australia.
Project Duration	3.5 years from October 2006
Project Sponsors	Alcoa World Alumina Australia Barrick Gold of Australia BHP Billiton Iron Ore BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Goldcorp Inc. Rio Tinto Limited Xstrata Zinc Zinifex
Project Summary	On completion
More Information	info@acmer.uq.edu.au

 

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