The Giant Mine near Yellowknife, NWT generated 237 000 tonnes of arsenic-trioxide (As₂O₃)-rich dust as a by-product of gold mining during its years of operation (1948 - 2004). Arsenic trioxide is a relatively soluble form of arsenic (As) and is currently stored in the mine, posing a threat of contamination to the adjacent Great Slave Lake. This research investigates the potential for permanent remediation of the As₂O₃ using sulfidation to transform it to arsenic trisulfide (As₂S₃).
Knowing that aqueous As₂O₃ readily reacts with sulfide (Ostermeyer, 2021), it was determined that the most practical and effective method to achieve sulfidation of the Giant Mine dust is to first dissolve the As₂O₃ and then conduct the reaction with sulfide. The optimal conditions at which to dissolve As₂O₃ were investigated. The solubility and dissolution rate in water were shown to increase with temperature, with solubility increasing from 185.7 g As₂O₃/kg water at 140 °C to 250.6 g As₂O₃/kg water at 180 °C. Qualitative demonstrations of the rate of dissolution show that ≥ 90 % of the As₂O₃ dissolved within 5 minutes at 140 °C, and 4 minutes at 180 °C; previous research indicates that time to equilibrium is > 24 hours at 60 °C (CANMET, 2000). Reaction of Giant-Mine material in water at elevated temperatures (140 °C - 200 °C) for 10 to 30 minutes consistently resulted in dissolution of approximately 80 wt. % of the initial solid-phase As concentrations, representing almost all the As₂O₃, yielding undissolved residues (≈ 40 wt. % of initial mass). The persistence of As in these residues is likely due to it being hosted in As₂O₃ - Sb₂O₃ solid solutions and low-solubility Fe-oxide phases in the initial sample (CANMET, 2000; Poirier, 2004).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/45128 |
| Date | 10 July 2023 |
| Creators | Tennant, Evelyn |
| Contributors | Al, Tom |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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