Anderson Tailings Impoundment Area

Since 1995, BGC has been retained by HudBay to provide geotechnical consulting for the Anderson Tailings Impoundment Area (ATIA) operated in Snow Lake, Manitoba, in central Canada. The facility has been storing tailings sub-aqueously since 1979, when a small control dam (Anderson Dam) was constructed.  Approximately 11.1 million tonnes of tailings have been deposited via floating tailings pipelines since mineral processing commenced.

Recently, forecast tailings productions have significantly increased due to the development of a new underground mine. To accommodate increases in forecast tailings production, studies have been completed to assess raising the existing TIA to increase the storage capacity.

BGC has been retained to conduct a number of services related to the ATIA. These have included:

• Annual dam safety inspections since 1997
• Conceptual, pre-feasibility, and feasibility level designs to increase the storage capacity; designs feature approximately 2 km of water retention dams and a new spillway
• Site investigations to support pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, as well as detailed design
• Tailings deposition plans and water balance to guide deposition and operations through the life of mine