User:Lakedoctor

Pit Lake

"Any perennial or ephemeral water body that occupies an excavation in the land surface created for the collection of ore material. Mining activities that commonly result in pit lakes include: open pit mining for precious metals, uranium, or diamonds; strip mining for coal; and quarrying for aggregate material.  Pit lakes develop from either the discharge of groundwater into the excavation after dewatering wells are discontinued, the collection of surface water in the excavation, the diversion of surface water into the excavation, or a combination of these processes.  With the exception of aggregate mines, pit lakes have the potential to collect and store large volumes of mine impacted water.  The surface of a pit lake provides a broad interface between the terrestrial ecosystems and mine impacted water, whereas surface water and groundwater discharge from pit lakes may impact stream ecosystems and human drinking water resources. For these reasons, regulatory agencies closely monitor the water quality of pit lakes that result from metal, coal, uranium, and diamond mining. This term does not apply to tailings ponds or storm water retention ponds unless tailings or storm water are discharged into an excavation that was originally created to collect ore material. Other names include mine lake, mine void lake (Australia), flooded strip mine (U.S. Dept. of Interior, Office of Surface Mining), and water-filled pit (U.S. Dept. of Interior, Office of Surface Mining)."

References:

Castendyk, D.N., Eary, L.E. (Eds.) (in press). Mine Pit Lakes: Characteristics, Predictive Modeling, and Sustainability. Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME), Littleton, Colorado.

Davis, A., Eary, L.E. (1997). Pit lake water quality in the western United States: an analysis of chemigenetic trends. Mining Engineering, June, pg. 98-102.

McLemore, V., Posey, H., Bucknam, C., van Zyl, D.J.A., Gusek, J., Lapakko, K., Walker, B.M., Williams, D., Russel, C.C., Eary, L.E., (2008). Appendix 2.1 Glossary of Terms. Introduction to Handbook of Technologies for the Management of Metal Mines and Metallurgical Process Drainage. Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Engineering, Littleton, Colorado.

Miller, G.C., Lyons, W.B., Davis, A. (1996). Understanding the water quality of pit lakes. Environmental Science & Technology, 30, pg. 118A-123A.