New Afton Mine
Client
New Gold Inc.Location
British Columbia, CanadaHighlights
- Engineer of Record for the historical tailings facility
- Tailings dewatering and consolidation design
- Site investigations and characterization
- Numerical groundwater modelling
- Thickened and amended tailings deposition design
- Permitting support
- Aquatics assessment
Project Overview
The New Afton Mine is an active copper-gold cave mine located approximately 10 km west of Kamloops in south central British Columbia. The Afton Mine originally operated as an open pit mine from approximately 1977 through 1997. New Gold Inc. (New Gold) began commercial production at the New Afton Mine in 2012 using underground block cave mining methods.
Project Role
Knight Piésold continues to support New Gold with the characterization of the tailings impounded in the inactive Historical Afton TSF (HATSF) and has developed detailed designs for tailings dewatering and consolidation, and thickened and amended tailings storage in the HATSF and the Historical Afton Open Pit (HAOP). Knight Piésold also provides Engineer of Record services for the current HATSF.