The waste rock of the Touro copper deposit in Galicia, Spain: challenges for its environmental characterization

Abstract

Characterization of metamorphic rocks to evaluate waste material acid rock drainage potential is particularly challenging as commonly used laboratory methods can result in its significant underprediction. Static tests were conducted for over 300 samples from the Touro copper project and indicate that carbon-based methods frequently overestimate acid neutralization potential due to the presence of both graphite and manganese–iron carbonates. The Modified Sobek method more accurately accounts for the buffering capacity of carbonates and does not account for graphite, although aluminosilicate dissolution kinetics need to be evaluated in the context of sulfide oxidation rates. Historic sulfur assays for the project relied on methods insufficient to fully digest metamorphosed sulfides and required correction. The more aggressive Leco method provides accurate sulfur estimates and has now been adopted for the project. Static test metrics such as the net neutralization potential or neutralization potential ratio, therefore, can give misleading results when incorrect characterization methods are employed. Such metrics should be considered as screening level, used with caution, and complemented with careful field and laboratory kinetic tests. Preliminary humidity cell testing of five Touro samples suggests that terminal pH values for cells that have become acidic closely match predicted net acid generation (NAG) pH values. The NAG pH test avoids some of the challenges associated with sulfur and carbon predictions in metamorphic rocks as it directly buffers sulfide oxidation acidity with available material neutralization potential. As such, NAG pH has been adopted as the accepted project metric for segregating acid-generating from non-acid-generating waste. Supplementary material: All Touro project static and kinetic test data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5389948 Thematic collection: This article is part of the Hydrochemistry related to exploration and environmental issues collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/hydrochemistry-related-to-exploration-and-environmental-issues