Nikolay Sidenko
Geochemist, Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Geochemical and mineralogical characterization of gold-mine tailings for environmental and feasibility studies.

Tailings management facilities (TMF) often pose environmental risk due to the geochemical processes occurring during operation and after closure. Evaluation and management of this risk relies on predictions based on geochemical and mineralogical testing of tailings. This presentation summarizes the types of tests to help predict if oxidation of exposed tailings will result in acidic drainage and/or metal leaching. The discussion includes examples of kinetic testing required for assessment of potential environmental risks related to the presence of ammonia and cyanide in the TMF after processing of gold ore.

 

Dr. Sidenko is a Geochemist with over 20 years of experience focusing on acid-rock drainage and metal-leaching (ARD/ML) studies. Nikolay has conducted and supervised numerous ARD/ML studies across Canada. He has extensive experience with geochemical assessments and water-quality predictions. He is a specialist in mineralogical and chemical methods of analysis and experiments involving column and batch tests. Nikolay has extensive experience with different methods of data interpretation and geochemical modeling including reactive transport simulations. He has several papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is a subject matter expert in geochemistry in Stantec.