Rainwater, contaminated after falling on piles of poisonous chromium tailings, flowed into the 300,000-cubic metre reservoir, turning it toxic.
Predictions based on numerical modelling are considered more appropriate, and, since debris and sediment flows exhibit similar behaviour to tailings flows, numerical models implemented for the analysis of rapid landslide run-out are suitable for the modelling of tailings dynamics.
The upgrade of the code originated from the intent to investigate the complex rheological behaviour of tailings flows released following a dam failure, which till now has been the subject of relatively few studies, despite the serious consequences that the collapse of a tailings dam can induce.
Considering the wide range of possible rheological behaviour that tailings flows can assume (from laminar to turbulent), this paper presents the new version of a computer model, which was designed to simulate the motion of rapid flow movements across 3D terrain.
In fact, because of the wide range of rheological behaviour that tailings flows can assume, a new version of the single-phase continuum-mechanics based RASH3D code (Pirulli 2005), which was originally designed to study flow-like landslide run-outs, has been implemented and is here described briefly.
It is also necessary to shovel away the material that comes out the end of your sluice (the tailings) so water flow is not interrupted over your riffles and material can continue to leave your sluice.
On August 4, 2014 an estimated 24 million cubic metres of mining waste and water spilled from the Mount Polley mine tailings pond and flowed down Hazeltine Creek and into Quesnel Lake, a source of drinking water for the town of Likely, BC, and home to an estimated quarter of the province's sockeye salmon.
Instead, the use of flood routing computer programs is recommended to model the turbulent flow of tailings.
Adjustable factors include: cell size, froth depth, feed, tailings and air volumetric flow rates and reagent addition rates.
This phenomenon becomes particularly significant where the tailings enter an actively flowing watercourse.
