Simple mine waste management planning for successful operations in the Canadian Low Arctic

Operations started at De Beers Canada Inc.'s Snap Lake Mine, about 220 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, in late August 2007. The Snap Lake Mine is located in the Canadian Low Arctic in a region of continuous permafrost. A number of "firsts" are associated with the Snap Lake Mine: • The mine is De Beers' first mining operation outside of Africa; • The mine is Canada's first completely underground diamond mine; and • The mine will be the first mine located in the low arctic, Canadian or otherwise, to deposit mine waste on surface as a paste. The surface disposal facility at the Snap Lake Mine is referred to as the North Pile. The North Pile will be sequentially developed in three phases: the Starter Cell, the East Cell and the West Cell. The design objective of the North Pile is that neither the operation of the mine nor the process plant will be impacted by activities at the North Pile. This requires that the North Pile must be capable to receive all waste materials produced at all times. The paper presents a general discussion of the deposition and development management plan for the North Pile. Emphasis will be placed on the elements of the plan which result from consideration of the physical setting of the mine: the Canadian Low Arctic. It will be seen that many of the elements of the deposition and development plan seemingly contradict each other; the trade-offs and impacts of these will challenge the optimization of the deposition and development plan. It is important to note that the quantities, tonnages, data and management concepts presented in the paper are accurate for the time of writing and are subject to change and modification as operations progress.