Bituminous Geomembranes Liner at Agnico-Eagle Mine in Kittilä, Finland: Fid-Bau Portal

Bituminous Geomembranes Liner at Agnico-Eagle Mine in Kittilä, Finland

Breul, Bertrand / Breul, Bernard

This paper discusses the reason behind the choice of a bituminous geomembrane to line two process-water ponds at the Agnico-Eagle gold mine in Kittilä, Finland. The Kittilä Mine lies within the Arctic Climatic Region (150 km north) where daylight reaches a minimum of 1 hour per day in winter and a maximum of 24 hours in summer with an average annual temperature of zero degrees Celsius. The paper describes the mine in general, reviews the regulatory framework for the liner system, and provides details about design, construction and Construction Quality Assurance activities and the benefits associated with the bituminous geomembrane liner such as the use of large aggregate under and above with no cushion geotextile, flexibility of schedule, and the possibility to install in cold weather. The choice of bituminous geomembrane was validated by a successful construction of the two ponds. The use of bituminous geomembrane provided several benefits at the Kittilä mine. The most important were: (1) Ability to work in cold wet weather which allowed the ponds to come on line on time and did not affect opening of the mining operations. (2) Cost reduction since local materials were used for bottom and slopes. There was no need for a fine sand or cushion layer under the geomembrane (3) Installation by the general contractor rather than a specialty subcontractor. This gave a better control of the schedule which was a critical element of the project.