The Hydrogeological Properties of Groundwater and Surface Water in the Damar Tailings Dam-Murgul Copper Mine Site (Artvin, NE Turkey) and Dye Experiment

The Tailings Dam (DAMAR) is used for the extraction of copper, copper pyrite and other ores as a result of the mining operations carried out throughout the Damar mine site, and for the storage of the wastes resulting from the site enrichment operations of these ores. Water springs discharge, on a northeast-southwest line, have been observed in different locations at distances ranging from approximately 60 and 65 m from the end of the Damar tailing dam downstream. The pH values of the groundwater samples ranged from 2.91 to 11.17 while surface water samples were laying dominantly between 3.4 and 7.17. The electrical conductivity (EC) values of groundwater were ranging from 589 μS/cm to 4397 μS/cm and the EC levels of surface water samples ranged from 528 to 3060 μS/cm, respectively. In order to determine the hydrodynamic relationship between the waste storage dam (Damar) and the springs leaking in different locations to the north-west of the dam axis, the dye experiment was carried out and it was calculated as 0.13 microgram/l uranine at the leakage point S1. To prevent infiltration from the dam, a material with hydraulic conductivity value of very low (K<10-6 cm/sec)was discharged to the waste dam site. During the discharge process, it was observed that the point S1 located at the lowest topographic level (1039 m) was completely dried