Artifex Engineering Hydrology Inc

Artifex Engineering Hydrology (AEH) was established in 2008 to focus on natural resource water management issues and is based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada,AEH personnel have conducted hydrogeological/geotechnical investigations at over 200 locations in Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. These investigations were completed for environmental baseline studies, mine dewatering feasibility studies,  operational mine grouting programs & pressure monitoring equipment installation, tailings & water storage facility location studies, water supply studies, and contaminant release assessments. AEH personnel have also completed geotechnical site investigations for earth dams, crusher plants and buildings.   Examples of ground water capabilities: Drill program planning and supervision. Water supply studies. Pump test planning, supervision and data analysis. Packer injection hydraulic conductivity testing. Installation of vibrating wire and standpipe piezometers. Ground water sampling for chemical parameters, isotopes, and gas composition. Data analysis and reporting of all field observations and laboratory analyses. Regional conceptual model development. Fractured rock grout program design and supervision. Bentonite slurry ground water barrier design and installation supervision.

EH personnel have experience with numerous water resource management projects including low flow analysis, flood analysis & mitigation, and project water balances.  Snap Lake, North West Territories, Canada    Examples of hydrology and hydraulics capabilities: Rainfall runoff modeling. Snowmelt runoff modeling. Lake and reservoir elevation modeling. Rainfall and streamflow return period analysis. Flood and baseflow analysis. Design of hydraulic structures. Stream hydraulics analysis for bridges, culverts and dike design. Hydrometric and climate station design and installation. Regional analysis of peak flow and low flow conditions to estimate flows at locations with no stream flow records.

AEH personnel have experience developing water and mass balance models for mining projects. These models are an essential component of the mine water management plan for projects under Environmental Assessment (EA) and for operating mines.    Mine infrastructure such as Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) and Water Storage Facilities (WSFs) can typically be constructed at several locations. The chosen location of these structures can have a major impact on the project water balance, the quantity of materials required for construction, the mass of contaminants released to the environment, and therefore, a large impact on the annual operation cost of the mine. We have completed numerous conceptual designs of TSFs and WSFs to calculate the volumes of earth materials required for construction and the resultant impact on the project water balance considering the location of these structures. We have also completed site investigation studies to source the materials required for construction of these facilities.  Mine site water balances are conducted as an integral component of the project EA. However, most if not all, of the EA data is predicted such as precipitation and mine discharge rates. Data collected as part of the ongoing regulatory requirements should be incorporated back into the water balance model to help make the big decisions on how to improve site operation efficiency. This should be done over the life of the mine as well as during closure. We can train and coach mine site employees to collect and analyze the required information.