For a few days in mid-September, Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the world’s centre for geochemical expertise when the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD) convened there. Given the interruption caused by the global pandemic, and that the conference happens only every three years, this was the first in-person event since 2018’s meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, so there was a lot of ground to cover.
And the ground has shifted. Charles Dumaresq, vice-president of science and environmental management at the Mining Association of Canada, noted in the opening day panel that a series of high-profile tailings dam failures has trained the attention of regulators, operators and the broader public on the geotechnical risks associated with mines and legacy sites, which has the potential to divert resources away from addressing geochemical concerns.
Nevertheless, Dumaresq and many other presenters made it clear through more than 140 presentations that an enormous amount of progress has been made over the last decades to predict and address both acid rock drainage and other water-related risks at mine sites.
For the rest of this article: https://magazine.cim.org/en/voices/acid-rock-intelligence-en/