Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment.
The Rayrock Mine Site is located about 145 km northwest of Yellowknife and 56 km north of Marian Lake. Rayrock Mines Limited recovered 458,000 pounds of yellow-cake between June 1957 and July 1959, leaving about 80,000 tons of tailings in two piles to the south of the mine site. The piles cover an a...
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1984
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ftlaurentian:oai:zone.biblio.laurentian.ca:10219/3083 2023-08-20T04:08:50+02:00 Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. Rayrock Northwest Territories, history, uranium tailings, and environment. Kalin, Margarete A. 1984-03-31 application/pdf https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/3083 en eng Boojum Research Limited Boojum Research final reports;IES001 https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/3083 Rayrock Mine Site tailings radium and copper concentration lead concentrations waste material contaminated soil windblown tailings Technical Report 1984 ftlaurentian 2023-07-31T10:21:54Z The Rayrock Mine Site is located about 145 km northwest of Yellowknife and 56 km north of Marian Lake. Rayrock Mines Limited recovered 458,000 pounds of yellow-cake between June 1957 and July 1959, leaving about 80,000 tons of tailings in two piles to the south of the mine site. The piles cover an area of about 6 and 8 ha. are free of vegetation and have small water bodies in depressions on the edges of the pile and at lowest points of the pile. These waters directly in contact with tailings appear to be high in radium and copper, reflecting the elevated concentrations of these elements in the tailings. Radium. and lead-210 concentrations are high in the tailings compared to other abandoned or inactive uranium mill tailings sites in Canada. However, the concentrations in the waste material can range from 350 to 3,300 pCi /g for Radium-226 and 350 to 3,000 pCi/g for Lead-210. A representative average concentration for Radium-226 and Lead-210 in the Rayrock tailings cannot be determined as only a small sample set has been analyzed. Contaminated soil underneath a tailings cover, particularly in the North tailings pile arid on the edges of both piles, was found. The size of the area with contaminated soil is not known , but. this soil may be a source of contamination for vegetation rooted below the thin tailings cover. A second possible source of contamination of vegetation in the vicinity may be windblown tailings originating from the more dry, South tailings pile. Although the coarse tailings are weak acid generating and have been in contact with some water bodies for more than two decades, the water pH has riot been affected. The water quality parameter analyzed for Sherman Lake and the downstream system suggest, tentatively, that on the small Lakes Alpha and Gamma have been contaminated, but all other water bodies show no evidence of contamination related to the tailings decomposition. Report Northwest Territories Yellowknife LU|ZONE|UL @ Laurentian University Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada Marian ENVELOPE(-58.750,-58.750,-62.217,-62.217) |
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LU|ZONE|UL @ Laurentian University |
op_collection_id |
ftlaurentian |
language |
English |
topic |
Rayrock Mine Site tailings radium and copper concentration lead concentrations waste material contaminated soil windblown tailings |
spellingShingle |
Rayrock Mine Site tailings radium and copper concentration lead concentrations waste material contaminated soil windblown tailings Kalin, Margarete A. Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
topic_facet |
Rayrock Mine Site tailings radium and copper concentration lead concentrations waste material contaminated soil windblown tailings |
description |
The Rayrock Mine Site is located about 145 km northwest of Yellowknife and 56 km north of Marian Lake. Rayrock Mines Limited recovered 458,000 pounds of yellow-cake between June 1957 and July 1959, leaving about 80,000 tons of tailings in two piles to the south of the mine site. The piles cover an area of about 6 and 8 ha. are free of vegetation and have small water bodies in depressions on the edges of the pile and at lowest points of the pile. These waters directly in contact with tailings appear to be high in radium and copper, reflecting the elevated concentrations of these elements in the tailings. Radium. and lead-210 concentrations are high in the tailings compared to other abandoned or inactive uranium mill tailings sites in Canada. However, the concentrations in the waste material can range from 350 to 3,300 pCi /g for Radium-226 and 350 to 3,000 pCi/g for Lead-210. A representative average concentration for Radium-226 and Lead-210 in the Rayrock tailings cannot be determined as only a small sample set has been analyzed. Contaminated soil underneath a tailings cover, particularly in the North tailings pile arid on the edges of both piles, was found. The size of the area with contaminated soil is not known , but. this soil may be a source of contamination for vegetation rooted below the thin tailings cover. A second possible source of contamination of vegetation in the vicinity may be windblown tailings originating from the more dry, South tailings pile. Although the coarse tailings are weak acid generating and have been in contact with some water bodies for more than two decades, the water pH has riot been affected. The water quality parameter analyzed for Sherman Lake and the downstream system suggest, tentatively, that on the small Lakes Alpha and Gamma have been contaminated, but all other water bodies show no evidence of contamination related to the tailings decomposition. |
format |
Report |
author |
Kalin, Margarete A. |
author_facet |
Kalin, Margarete A. |
author_sort |
Kalin, Margarete A. |
title |
Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
title_short |
Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
title_full |
Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
title_fullStr |
Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rayrock North West Territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
title_sort |
rayrock north west territories [sic] : history, uranium tailings and environment. |
publisher |
Boojum Research Limited |
publishDate |
1984 |
url |
https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/3083 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.750,-58.750,-62.217,-62.217) |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada Marian |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife Canada Marian |
genre |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
genre_facet |
Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
op_relation |
Boojum Research final reports;IES001 https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/3083 |
_version_ |
1774721369886425088 |