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As was discussed in the October 1 submittal, the primary purpose of the sampling program was to <br />verify the original program results showing little to no cyanide present in pore water in tailings <br />deposited at high cyanide values, therefore measurement of cyanide in pore water was critical. A <br />vacuum pump was used to pull pore water from the samples to measure pore water cyanide values. <br />The pore water to be tested for cyanide content was pumped to a bottle containing preservative so <br />that maximum cyanide retention occurred and little was lost to degradation. Pore water was limited <br />in the samples, but all samples were tested for a number of water quality parameters. Note that the <br />small sample volume meant that the samples could not be filtered. As such, metal ~ analyses, using <br />an acidic preservative, may have dissolved some small particulate matter causing ~~alues to be <br />elevated over actual pore water quality values. Additional geochemical testing for the samples <br />included AGP/ANP tests and 1312 leachability for both rinsed and unrinsed samples. These results <br />are presented in Attachment 3 and discussed below. <br />A. Pore Water Quality <br />As was discussed in the Reclamation Evaluation Report, BMRI collected a sample of tailings pore <br />water within the AVR deposited tailings during the original program. This one sample showed <br />cyanide levels at 0.83 mg/I weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide and 0.88 mg/I total cyanide. <br />Both values were surprisingly low and Dr. Adrian Smith, geochemical consultant to BMRI, <br />indicated that additional samples should be taken. Dr. Smith's concerns with sampling <br />methodology are discussed in detail in the October 1, 1993 submittal. <br />As a result, BIvIRI collected five additional pore water samples under Dr. Smith's direction in <br />September 1993 from within the tailings deposited while the AVR system was in use. The cyanide <br />results for all pore water samples are shown on Table 1. Note that the highest WAD cyanide value <br />was 0.83 mg/1 obtained from the pore water sample in the original program. The highest total <br />cyanide value was ~.1 mg/I. All values were significantly below the values in the :ailings at the <br />time of deposition. This would indicate that high cyanide water was rapidly degraied and/or <br />dissipated from the system. <br />Other constituents measured within the pore water were also within the expected ntnges based on <br />previous testing. As expected values for sodium, calcium and potassium were relatively high in the <br />pore water. Metals were low to non-detectable for those metals which would not be increased <br />through addition as part of a processing reagent or as a result of the lack of sample filtering. Iron, <br />manganese, molybdenum, copper and zinc are all present in the pore water at valur:s that are higher <br />than would be anticipated in actual tailings pore water and in other samples of tailings water <br />previously presented. <br />Dr. Smith evaluated the pore water chemistry as part of his evaluation of the geochemical test <br />results for the second sampling program. His evaluation is presented in a memo included as <br />Attachment 4. Mark Logsdon of Geochimica was also asked to provide his comments on the pore <br />water quality and tailings geochemistry from the second sample set. Mr. Logsdon s comments are <br />included as Attachment ~. [V1r. Logsdon overlooked the unfiltered nature of the tailings pore water <br />analyses in his evaluation and as a result, his discussion of the high iron in the port: water is not <br />accurate and should be disregarded. <br />3 <br />