Laboratory Testing of Mixtures of Coal Mine Washery Wastes

摘要

Coal mines in Australia are under increasing pressure to minimise the environmental impacts of the washery wastes generated on the processing of the run-of-mine coal. Coarse reject and tailings, the products of coal processing, are segregated based on their particle size and are conventionally disposed of separately, the coarse reject in dumps and the slurried tailings to a surface containment or dis-used pit. However, they may be recombined and co-disposed, usually by pumping. Co-disposal potentially results in a mixture having improved geotechnical parameters to those of the two waste streams disposed of separately, with potential economic and environmental advantages. The paper presents the results of a series of laboratory tests including characterisation, shear strength and compression testing to demonstrate the mechanical behaviour of different dry mass ratios of coarse reject to tailings.