Overview: Tailings disposal and dam construction practices in the 21st century

摘要

Tailings disposal practices in the mining industry have been changing in the last 10 years from high water content conventional slurry tailings disposal to more water efficient thickened tailings, paste tailings and dry stack tailings disposal in recent time. These changes are occurring in part due to more scarce fresh water resources to sustain the mill production operations, and in part due to more efficient thickener tank designs for removal of excess tailings slurry water for plant reuse. Tailings disposal storage practices are also changing to co-disposal of tailings in mine waste piles with the potential for end of operations reprocessing of tailings as backfill disposal into depleted mine excavations at closure. This paper discusses the recent changes in tailings disposal and storage practices and their impact on tailings dam construction in the 21st Century.