Surface/ground waters could be polluted when rain-water and/or snow-melt water infiltrate through waste rock piles at mine sites and dissolve secondary minerals (salts) from rock surfaces. It is important to reduce solute loading by the optimal configuration of waste rock piles. This requires the proper definition and determination of the characteristic properties of waste rock piles in terms of metal leaching and, in particular, rate control mechanisms and scaling laws, and their dependence upon configuration variables. For revealing these characteristic properties this paper proposes a pile-scale C-Q relation: C = C_s(1 − e^-P/Q), (P ≡ kλβψ), where C and C_s are respectively solute concentration and particle's saturation concentration, Q is the flow rate of the water through a waste rock pile, k represents the effective or average dissolution coefficient of a mineral specie from rock surfaces, β represents rock pile depth, λ represents the ratio of the sum of the surface areas of rocks to the volume that the rocks occupy, and ψ is the sum of the cross-sections of water-flow channels in a waste rock pile. The two characteristic properties revealed by the C-Q relation are: (1) P, the product of k, λ, β, and ψ (P ≡ kλβψ), which is the characteristic property of a waste rock pile in terms of metal leaching, named here the solute production potential; and (2) the ratio of P to Q, P/Q, a non-dimensional number, designated as α (α ≡ P/Q), named here the rate control quotient, which is the scaling law and the rate control mechanism indicator. The value of α quantitatively indicates what controls the rate of mineral dissolution, and it also relates smaller-scale metal-leaching testing results to their corresponding full scales. When α becomes small, say α < 0.5, the rate of solute production potential P becomes in control, and the solute loading is nearly independent of Q; when α becomes larger, say α > 2.5, solute concentration would become close to its saturation concentration C_s, and Q determines solute loading (that is, the solute loading is proportional to Q). When 0.5 < α < 2.5, both Q and P are in control, a mixed control mechanism. The 20 years of measurements of mine drainage chemistry from the main waste rock piles at the Equity Silver mine, BC, Canada, are used to illustrate how to determine the two characteristic properties P and α, and how well they are able to describe the waste rock piles in terms of metal leaching.

当雨水和/或融雪水通过矿场的废石堆渗入并溶解岩石表面的次生矿物质（盐）时，地表/地下水可能被污染。重要的是通过废石桩的最佳配置来减少溶质负荷。这就需要根据金属浸出，特别是速率控制机制和比例定律，以及它们对构型变量的依赖，正确定义和确定determination石堆的特性。为了揭示这些特性，本文提出了桩级CQ关系：C = C _s（1- e ^{-P / Q}），（P≡kλβψ），其中C和C _s分别是溶质浓度和颗粒的饱和浓度，Q是通过废石堆的水流量，k表示矿物种类在岩石表面的有效或平均溶出系数，β表示岩堆深度，λ表示比率岩石表面积与岩石所占体积之和，ψ是废石堆中水流通道横截面的总和。CQ关系式揭示的两个特征为：（1）P，k，λ，β和ψ的乘积（P≡kλβψ），这是废石桩在金属浸出方面的特征，命名为这里的溶质生产潜力；（2）P与Q之比P / Q，无量纲数，记为α（α≡P / Q），在此称为速率控制商，这是缩放定律和速率控制机制的指标。α值定量表示控制矿物溶解速率的因素，并且还将较小规模的金属浸出测试结果与相应的满刻度相关。当α变小时，例如α<0.5，溶质的产生潜力P的速度将受到控制，溶质的负载几乎与Q无关；当α变大，例如α> 2.5时，溶质浓度将接近其饱和浓度C 溶质负荷几乎与Q无关；当α变大，例如α> 2.5时，溶质浓度将接近其饱和浓度C 溶质负荷几乎与Q无关；当α变大，例如α> 2.5时，溶质浓度将接近其饱和浓度C_s，并且Q确定溶质载荷（即溶质载荷与Q成正比）。当0.5 <α<2.5时，Q和P均处于控制状态，这是一种混合控制机制。在加拿大卑诗省Equity Silver矿山的主要废石堆中进行了20年的矿山排水化学测量，用于说明如何确定两个特征P和α，以及它们如何能够很好地描述废物金属浸出的岩石堆。