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Water Resources Assessment and Hydrogeological Modelling as a Tool for the Feasibility Study of a Closure Plan for an Open Pit Mine (La Respina Mine, Spain)

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Abstract

The La Respina mine is an open pit for talc extraction located in a mountainous range of NW Spain. The closure plan foresees the construction of an artificial lake in the void left by the open pit. The open pit is 600 m long by 300 m wide, and has a maximum depth of about 100 m. Karstic springs hydraulically connected to the mine are located down-gradient of the open pit. It is planned that the future lake will be filled using the natural water resources available in the watershed. These water resources have been evaluated by means of a daily-based, lumped hydrologic balance model. The comparison between computed ground water discharges and the flow rates measured at La Respina Springs provide supportive evidence that it is a sound and reliable model. The outputs of the lumped hydrologic balance model have been used as boundary conditions for a finite element hydrogeologic numerical model of the aquifer. By combining the results of both models, a net inflow to the future lake between 2.87 and 3.25 Mm3/year has been predicted. The future lake will induce the water table to rise and therefore, the base flow of the karstic springs is expected to increase.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by Rio Tinto Minerals and by the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Education through a PhD Grant (POCI 2010, BD/16647/2004). We especially thank the Rio Tinto Minerals personnel from La Respina Mine for the field database and their technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I&DGeoBioTec, Geosciences Department, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Clara Sena

  2. Amphos XXI Consulting SL, Passeig de Rubí, 29–31, 08197, Valldoreix, Barcelona, Spain

    Clara Sena & Jorge Molinero

Authors
  1. Clara Sena
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  2. Jorge Molinero
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Correspondence to Clara Sena.

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Sena, C., Molinero, J. Water Resources Assessment and Hydrogeological Modelling as a Tool for the Feasibility Study of a Closure Plan for an Open Pit Mine (La Respina Mine, Spain). Mine Water Environ 28, 94–101 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-009-0067-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-009-0067-7

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