Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures
Mine tailings are typically deposited as slurry and stored in impoundment dams. These structures pose a serious geotechnical risk, and are difficult to successfully reclaim at the end of mining. An increasingly common alternative to traditional tailings disposal is “dry stacking”: the placement of t...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-02-01
|
| Series: | Minerals |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/295 |
| _version_ | 1797619089697406976 |
|---|---|
| author | Ralph Burden G. Ward Wilson |
| author_facet | Ralph Burden G. Ward Wilson |
| author_sort | Ralph Burden |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mine tailings are typically deposited as slurry and stored in impoundment dams. These structures pose a serious geotechnical risk, and are difficult to successfully reclaim at the end of mining. An increasingly common alternative to traditional tailings disposal is “dry stacking”: the placement of tailings dewatered using filtration in a self-supporting stack. It has been demonstrated that the addition of rock (termed “commingling”) to a filtered tailings stack has the potential to improve the geotechnical performance of the stack and may make large-scale dry stacking more economically viable. This paper discusses the application of commingling to tailings dry stacking, specifically relating to the design and evaluation of commingled blends of waste rock and tailings. The authors present a review of existing mix design theory, and present an extended theoretical model to predict the structure and behavior of blends of waste rock and tailings, based upon mix ratio and density. This paper is based upon established theory, but is extended to consider the case of loosely placed materials and the effect of volume change on structural configuration. The extended model may be used to describe the geotechnical behavior of commingled filtered tailings and waste rock. It is postulated that the geotechnical behavior of blends, and the primary mechanism of volume change, is governed by particle configuration. A brief discussion of experimental methods to evaluate the structure and configuration of commingled mine wastes is also presented. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:22:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54bdb2c5a7e84f1da089a89093bee500 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:22:03Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-54bdb2c5a7e84f1da089a89093bee5002023-11-16T22:19:32ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2023-02-0113229510.3390/min13020295Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of MixturesRalph Burden0G. Ward Wilson1Frontera Geotechnical, Squamish, BC V8B 0K8, CanadaDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2W2, CanadaMine tailings are typically deposited as slurry and stored in impoundment dams. These structures pose a serious geotechnical risk, and are difficult to successfully reclaim at the end of mining. An increasingly common alternative to traditional tailings disposal is “dry stacking”: the placement of tailings dewatered using filtration in a self-supporting stack. It has been demonstrated that the addition of rock (termed “commingling”) to a filtered tailings stack has the potential to improve the geotechnical performance of the stack and may make large-scale dry stacking more economically viable. This paper discusses the application of commingling to tailings dry stacking, specifically relating to the design and evaluation of commingled blends of waste rock and tailings. The authors present a review of existing mix design theory, and present an extended theoretical model to predict the structure and behavior of blends of waste rock and tailings, based upon mix ratio and density. This paper is based upon established theory, but is extended to consider the case of loosely placed materials and the effect of volume change on structural configuration. The extended model may be used to describe the geotechnical behavior of commingled filtered tailings and waste rock. It is postulated that the geotechnical behavior of blends, and the primary mechanism of volume change, is governed by particle configuration. A brief discussion of experimental methods to evaluate the structure and configuration of commingled mine wastes is also presented.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/295filtered tailingscomminglingmix designdry stacking |
| spellingShingle | Ralph Burden G. Ward Wilson Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures Minerals filtered tailings commingling mix design dry stacking |
| title | Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures |
| title_full | Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures |
| title_fullStr | Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures |
| title_short | Commingling of Waste Rock and Tailings to Improve “Dry Stack” Performance: Design and Evaluation of Mixtures |
| title_sort | commingling of waste rock and tailings to improve dry stack performance design and evaluation of mixtures |
| topic | filtered tailings commingling mix design dry stacking |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/295 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ralphburden comminglingofwasterockandtailingstoimprovedrystackperformancedesignandevaluationofmixtures AT gwardwilson comminglingofwasterockandtailingstoimprovedrystackperformancedesignandevaluationofmixtures |