Sand Bed Dewatering of Alumina Miniplant Tailings

摘要

The Bureau of Mines, as part of its minerals environmental technology research, conducted a study of mine waste tailings disposal. Part of the investigation evaluated the sand bed dewatering technique for disposal of alumina miniplant tailings as a means to increase consolidation rates and contain effluents. The technique employs a bed of sand resting on an impervious bottom. The tailings slurry is impounded over the sand layer and is dewatered through bottom drain piping. The study employed a single 10-ft-high, 6-in-diam, clear polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) column, and thickener wastes from the acid leaching of calcined kaolin clay.