Laserfiche WebLink
., <br />Memo to Berhan Reffelew <br />Carlton Tailings Lift Thickness - Supplemental <br />page 2 <br />normally assumed to represent a fast loading situation in which the <br />material is unable to drain, resulting in a plastic mode of <br />material performance. This represented but one possible scenario <br />for the relocated Carlton Mill Tailings fill. More normally, <br />tailings are assumed to be cohesionless when evaluating the <br />conceptual stability of tailings structures. <br />In response to my second set of adequacy comments, Golder <br />reanalyzed the short term scenario for the Carlton Tailings fill. <br />Mr. Manziac assumed a more traditional tailings strength assumption <br />of zero cohesion and a sensitivity range of conservative p values, <br />with a sensitivity range from 10° through 15°. The original <br />laboratory value for the tailings friction angle was 38°. This <br />sensitivity style analysis projected a minimum static factor of <br />safety of 1.2 in the short term for tailings placed at lower <br />densities in unsaturated/drained conditions. <br />Long Term Scenario <br />Further, Golder Associates addressed my long term concern regarding <br />the placement of a low strength foundational layer of relocated <br />Carlton Mill Tailings beneath the Arequa Gulch excess overburden <br />fill and adjoining structure. I was concerned that this might <br />facilitate a large scale rotational or glide failure, even though <br />the relocated highway embankment would buttress the toe. Such a <br />rotational failure could override the highway embankment with a <br />large scale compression ridge or material flow, obliterating the <br />surface and underdrain hydrology controls and conceivably <br />subjecting the public to a health and safety risk within the <br />relocated right-of-way. <br />In order to evaluate this scenario, Golder repeated the original <br />permit application stability analysis for the gross cross-section <br />transecting the thalweg of Arequa Gulch and the adjacent and <br />superimposed excess overburden structure. Lacking specific Carlton <br />Tailings material properties for lower densities, Golder performed <br />a similar sensitivity style evaluation. Mr. Manziac assumed a more <br />traditional tailings strength assumption of zero cohesion and a <br />sensitivity range of conservative p values, with a sensitivity <br />range from 15° through 25°. Once again, this sensitivity style <br />analysis projected a minimum static factor of safety of 1.2 in the <br />long term for tailings placed at lower densities in <br />unsaturated/drained conditions. <br />Summary Comments <br />The more thorough supplemental short term and long term sensitivity <br />style stability analysis demonstrates the relocated Carlton Mill <br />