A hydrogeological and environmental study of the Niesajokivalley in Rautuvaara, Kolari and its suitability as a future tailings disposal area

A mining facility is planned to Hannukainen, Kolari, where iron, copper and gold will be enriched. The brown-field of Rautuvaara in the Niesajoki valley is one of the options for the tailings disposal area in the environmental assessment plan. It has been used by the Rautuvaara and Saattopora mines to dispose tailings from 1962 to 1995. The target of the study was to define groundwater table and directions, hydrostratigraphical features and water qualities as well as research groundwater – surface water interactions in order to evaluate the present state and possibility for future use as a tailings disposal area. The hydraulic gradient was delineated with ArcGIS to be towards the center part of the valley and a watershed was identified in the middle part of the northern settling pond. The hydraulic pattern was simple. Mostly, the valley is covered by till, with some alternating sand, gravel and silt units. No good aquitards were identified with permeabilities calculated from grain-size analysis and slug tests. However, the hydraulic conductivity was determined to be poor or moderate (from 10^-2 to 10^-7 m s^-1) in the till units, they dominated in the area. The surrounding surface and groundwaters followed the baseline in the area for the most and were determined to be natural waters (calciumhydrogencarbonate) with Aquachem software. Contaminated (acid mine drainage) surface and groundwaters (sulphate-magnesium) were quite restricted in area, they were identified in surface waters and groundwater observation wells close by the abandoned tailings area. Some of these groundwater observation wells were evaluated to contain surface water by their oxygen and hydrogen ionic compositions, where others of the evaporated observations wells situated near a bog area. Groundwater seepage from the west coast was also concluded, which could have had a part in the AMD generation process. On the other hand, some of the wells contained enriched waters, in form of elevated trace element concentrations, however they were still Ca-HCO3 waters. This was the case for two artesian monitoring wells on the tailings area. It was concluded that the existing peat layer underneath the tailings is impermeable and leads to the assumption that mostly the contamination is restricted in area because of a separate tailings water body. The tailings waters had only very limited connection to the confined aquifer underneath. The thickness of the peat layer should be examined as well as the hydrostratigraphy of the aquifer, to prevent any future leaking risks to the groundwaters