Using geophysical methods to image the internal structure of mine waste rock piles

Mine waste rock piles, or rockwaste dumps, containing metallic sulphides are a favourable environment for the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD). There are many physical, geochemical and biological processes that lead to the production of AMD within waste rock piles. One of the most critical of these is water flow and water distribution in the waste rock. To fully understand this process, it is critical to know the intemal structure of waste rock piles. In this paper, the authors show the results of an investigation where resistivity and ground penetrating radar (GPR) geophysical methods have been used to study mine dumps.