Page 6 - MN 2020 Conference Program

MINING AND EXPLORATION ENVIRONMENTAL

Chair: Dean Peterson; UMD Natural Resources Chair: Vikas Tandon; Foth Infrastructure & Environment,
Research Institute, Duluth, MN LLC, Lake Elmo, MN

3:00pm 9:30am
Western Mesabi – Iron Resources of the Future Dissolved Versus Total Metals: Which Should I Measure?
Rodney Johnson; University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, Matt Mlinar; Justin Brown; Foth Infrastructure and Environment, LLC, Duluth, MN and
UMD Natural Resources Research Institute, Coleraine, MN and Allison Haus; Foth Infrastructure and Environment, LLC, DePere, WI
Marsha Patelke and John Heine; UMD Natural Resources Research Measuring baseline total and dissolved metals at groundwater monitoring
Institute, Duluth, MN wells and at surface water monitoring sites will yield different results. Total
The NRRI is conducting a long-term comprehensive geometallurgical pro- metals measures both the soluble fraction and those metals bound to larg-
gram to characterize the taconite and partially oxidized and oxidized Biwabik er colloids and suspended solids, while dissolved metals measures soluble
Iron Formation along the western end of the Mesabi Iron Range. The purpose metals, and metals that pass through a nominal 0.45 micron filter. This pre-
of the program is to provide the fundamental geometallurgical data neces- sentation will discuss why one method may be preferable over another at
sary to guide research directed at extending the life of taconite operations, given sites and review recommendations from the EPA regarding applicabil-
to influence research directed at optimizing iron recovery, and to identify the ity of total versus dissolved metals, review the structure of relevant Midwest
characteristics of the resource that will provide the feed for new value added groundwater and surface water standards, and conclude with a comparison
iron products of the future. This talk will present examples of the types of of project data and examples.
data that are being collected.
10:00am
3:30pm Biological Removal of Sulfate from Water: Current Status and
US Mining and the Circular Economy Outlook for Mine Water Treatment
Margaret Durenberger, Oreval, South Saint Paul, MN Ali Ling; Barr Engineering Co., Minneapolis, MN and Scott Kyser;
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Paul, MN
4:00pm This presentation will describe regulatory pressures, factors affecting per-
V-flow: Vanadium Charged with Amping Up Green Energy formance, and future outlook for biological sulfate removal technologies
Storage Solutions for mine water treatment in Minnesota. Membrane separation is the only
Aubrey Lee; Big Rock Exploration, Minneapolis, MN technology applied at full-scale to consistently achieve less than 250 mg/L
The world’s sluggish mass-adoption of renewable energies is bottlenecked sulfate, but are expensive and require brine management, which also incurs
high expense. Regulatory uncertainty associated with Minnesota’s wild rice
by energy storage constraints. Storage limitations inhibit the supply, stability, standard increase the urgency of developing viable biological sulfate removal
and flexibility of green energy, but breakthroughs in vanadium redox flow technology. Factors influencing effectiveness include reactor configuration,
battery technology (V-flow) have it poised to supplant pumped-hydro in the temperature, carbon source, and nutrient supply. Bench-scale research is
utility-scale stationary storage market. V-flow could render solar power the underway at the University of Minnesota to develop pilot-scale technologies
most deployable energy resource - capable of superseding all other electric- for demonstration studies.
ity sources on the grid. US demand for V is currently met by foreign sourc-
es where it is produced primarily from vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM)
deposits. Regionally, there is potential for widespread VTM resources in the 10:30am
midcontinent rift terrain of the Precambrian Canadian Shield. Why Treat Water When You Can Control the Source
Paul Eger; Global Minerals Engineering, Woodbury, MN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 Effective antimicrobial source control techniques were first shown to be
effective over 30 years ago, but the lack of consistent, well documented
case studies and application challenges have limited its use. New control
ETHICS and application methods and a better understanding of mechanisms merit
reassessment of this approach. Proof of principle source control tests were
8:00am - 9:00am conducted on a waste rock sample from the Barite Hill superfund site; three
Foundation of Ethical Principles for Professional Engineers waste rock saturation conditions were simulated. Treatment was successful
and Geologists in eliminating the acidophilic bacteria, but a different approach was required
for each condition.
Kristine Kubes
This year’s ethics talk will include the history and foundation of the ethical
principles underlying the MN rules as well as recent rule updates and how DATA
they apply to engineering and geology practice. The talk will include case
studies applicable to geologists and engineers. This year’s speaker is Kris- Chair: Erik Boleman, Barr Engineering Co., Duluth, MN
tine Kubes, the principal of the Kubes Law Office in Minneapolis. Ms. Kubes
concentrates her work on professional liability defense/ litigation, contracts, 9:30am
and proactive construction counseling, which involves addressing and co- Harnessing Mobile Field Data Collection for Construction of
operatively resolving project management, risk management, payment and a Tailings Pond Emankment
surety issues. Integrated with her legal practice, Kristine is a qualified neutral Michael DeVasto; GZA GeoEnvironmental, Grand Rapids, MI
who mediates and arbitrates construction and design disputes. Governor Using ESRI’s Collector and Enterprise platform, we implemented field data
Pawlenty appointed Kristine to serve as a public member on the MN State collection of field observations and construction quality control tests of an
Board of AELSLAGID in 2005; she served as the Board’s Chair from 2009 to tailings pond embankment. We designed a custom enterprise geodatabase
2011 and completed eight years of service on the Board in 2013. Ms. Kubes to match the needs of the geotechnical engineers and earth moving proj-
was the Board Chair when rules requiring ethics professional development ect managers such that the proper information could be captured during
hours were implemented and has a unique perspective on ethical principles construction, made accessible and useable by all parties of interest. We
for licensed professionals. Attendees will be provided with a CE certificate for captured over 1,500 test points, photos and field observations, which were
one professional development hour (PDH) dedicated to professional ethics published directly to a web mapping application where the data is accessed
for the 2018 to 2020 biennium. in real time, and synthesized to convey on the ground progress.

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