Determination of Acid-Generating Potential of Waste Rocks in Kyaukpahto Gold Mine, Myanmar

Thant Swe Win¹ , Hideki Shimada² , Akihiro Hamanaka³ , Takashi Sasaoka⁴ , Sugeng Wahyudi⁵ , Hiroto Yamasaki⁶ , Shinji Matsumoto⁷ , Myo Min Tun⁸

1. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
2. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
3. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
4. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
5. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engine.

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.6 , Issue.4 , pp.25-33, Apr-2020

Online published on Apr 30, 2020

Copyright © Thant Swe Win, Hideki Shimada, Akihiro Hamanaka, Takashi Sasaoka, Sugeng Wahyudi, Hiroto Yamasaki, Shinji Matsumoto, Myo Min Tun . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Kyaukpahto gold deposit is located in the Kawlin Township, Sagaing Region, Myanmar. Gold deposit is classified as a shallow level epithermal deposit and gold mineralization is characterized by stockworks quartz vein and dissemination hosted by sandstones of Eocene Male Formation. Common ore minerals of mineralization include pyrite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite. Gold ore are exploited by open-pit mining and waste rocks are disposed as waste dumps near mine site. Large amount of waste rocks containing metal sulfides are exposed to the surface, favouring the metal sulfides in reaction with air and water, and produce acidic water. High values of hardness and heavy metal concentrations are observed in mine water and apparently reduce the quality of water and create potential threat to nearby environment. This work focus on the assessment of waste rocks at the Kyaukpahto waste dump in order to determine the acid-generation potential of waste rocks and prevent generation of AMD from the waste dump. The chemistry of the waste rocks was studied using XRF techniques. Net acid generation, acid neutralizing capacity, net acid-producing potential tests and two-step batch leaching tests were performed. Based on the results of the analyses, potentially acid-forming waste rocks and non-acid forming waste rocks were identified.

Key-Words / Index Term :
gold deposit, waste dump, metal sulfides, acid-forming waste rocks, acid mine drainage

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