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This technical memorandum presents the results from the 43-week extended kinetic geochemical characterization program of scavenger tailings for the Resolution Copper Project conducted by Golder Associates (Golder). The program was carried out to evaluate the environmental stability of the tailings and supplement the static testing program reported in Golder 2007.

The GoldSim contaminant transport module provides capabilities for simulating chemical processes such as partitioning and solubilities. While flexible and easily configurable, these simple processes do not represent complete reaction paths, hence additional chemical relationships are sometimes needed to model complex hydrochemical systems. A versatile approach for representing complex chemical processes of chemical equilibration and aqueous speciation is to rely on GoldSim’s dynamic link library (DLL) element.

The study area is situated along the southern edge of the Superstition Mountains approximately 40 miles east of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area (Figure 1). Geology is dominated by mid-Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Superior volcanic field (Ransome, 1903), and these rocks depostionally overlie a crystalline basement of early Proterozoic Pinal Schist intruded by middle Proterozoic granitoids. In some areas a relatively thin sequence of the Middle Proterozoic Apache Group occurs along the contact between these two rock types.

Rate and distribution of seismic activity are important indicators of the overall state of tectonic stress within a region. In regions characterized by low levels of seismicity, active fault surfaces are rarely visible at the surface, and the analysis of small-magnitude earthquakes at depth may be the most effective way to identify seismic hazard and risk from ambient tectonic activity.

A computer code (RASCAL) has been developed to provide realistic predictions of ground motion parameters for applications to earthquake engineering risk assessment.

The contemporary seismicity of the Colorado Plateau based on seismic monitoring in the past 30 yr can be characterized as being of small to moderate magnitude, and contrary to earlier views, of a low to moderate rate of occurrence with earthquakes widely distributed.

Rock mass characterization is required for many applications in rock engineering practice including excavation design, support design, stope design, amongst others. For these purposes, it is necessary to obtain design input parameters such as deformation moduli and strength parameters for numerical modeling.

The purpose of this study is to quantify climbing resources and to assess potential losses for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and to help identify needs for potential mitigation. Aside from a climbing resources inventory, this memorandum also provides background information related to climbing resources, including a description of areas within the Queen Creek climbing area.