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9 <br />SM -18 Mine Report <br />GeoScience Services <br />conducted in the specific geologic formation, regardless of the locations, or hydraulic <br />properties were estimated based on lithology. Table 2 provides a list of hydraulic <br />properties available for the geologic formations underlying the mine site. There is a <br />limited amount of information that requires estimates for these properties in the <br />groundwater flow and transport model. <br />Moisture characteristic curves for similar porous media found in the shales and <br />sandstones of the site, adapted from a publication by Blumb, Murphy, and Everett (1992), <br />were used to simulate unsaturated moisture conditions. The curves for the unsaturated <br />hydraulic conductivity as a function of moisture content were developed using the <br />methodology presented by Van Genuchten (1978). These functional relationships were <br />used to simulate the transport of water and subsequent contamination in the unsaturated <br />zone above the regional aquifer. <br />For the source term, it was assumed that the pore water in the waste rock <br />maintained a constant concentration for the duration of the simulation. The potential <br />contaminant concentrations were assumed to be at a value equal to the SPLP results. <br />Since rainwater exhibits a higher pH value (less acidic than SPLP leaching fluid) and <br />would leach less constituents of concern, the waste rock pore -water contaminant <br />concentrations would decline with time. Consequently, the source term used in the model <br />is highly conservative and over predicts the amount of potential contamination available <br />for transport. <br />Table 3 provides sorption coefficients for the analytes of interest (units are cubic <br />meters per kilogram). Most of the analytes are mobile but exhibit some degree of <br />sorption in sands and clays that are typical of the geologic material in the area. <br />