Dry Stacking of Filtered Tailings for Large-Scale Production Rates over 100,000 Metric Tons per Day: Envisioning the Sustainable Future of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Mine Tailings Management under a Complex Social and Environmental Pressure Scenario
1.2. The Positioning of Mine Tailings Dewatering Technologies as Green Mining Solutions
1.3. Towards a New Paradigm for the Management of Filtered Mine Tailings Considering Unprecedented High Production Rates
1.4. Aim of the Article
2. Dewatering Process Plant: Thickening and Filtering of Mine Tailings
2.1. Influence of Filtered Mine Tailings Particle Size Distribution in the Dewatering Process
- Vacuum ceramic disc filters.
- Vacuum band filters.
- Pressure filters (filter presses).
2.2. Thickening and Filtering of Mine Tailings Process Plant
3. Filtered Mine Tailings Conveyance System
- Intermediate fixed conveyor belt (transfer conveyor belt).
- Discharge chute (including lining).
- Distribution fixed conveyor belt.
- Discharge chute (including lining).
- Mobile conveyor belt with tripper car.
- Minimize stacker downtime for changeovers between lifts and sweeps.
- Maintain stacker progression rates within practical limitations.
- Maximize evaporative drying of the stacked filtered mine tailings.
- Minimize stacker and conveyor costs.
- Equipment should be mechanically robust to minimize unplanned downtime.
- Stack material in a way that addresses geotechnical considerations, including equipment setback distances.
- Permit constraints.
4. Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings: Geometric Configuration and Placement Scheme
4.1. Geometric Configuration of Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings
4.2. Placement Scheme of Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings
- The initial and overall footprint is minimal.
- Stacker downtime from changeovers is reduced dramatically.
- The system sequence improves the aeration of the material by profiling the stack as its layers.
- This maximizes evaporative drying and improves the density of the stacked filtered mine tailings, lowering stacker and conveyor costs.
- The stack can reach the design high, built in several layers.
- The comparatively tiny footprint is clearly a major advantage over the slurry conventional tailings storage facilities.
- The mobile stacking conveyor machine also compresses and compacts the material as it travels across the dry stacking.
- Progressive reclamation and rehabilitation to manage dust and emission of particulate matter is also made easier with this technology (consolidated tailings).
5. Safety and Sustainability of a Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings: Physical Stability, Water Management, Progressive Mine Closure and Particulate Matter Control
5.1. Physical Stability of Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings
5.2. Water Management at the Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings
5.3. Progressive Mine Closure and Dust Control at the Dry Stacking of Filtered Mine Tailings
- Buttresses constructed of mine waste rock material will break up the airflow and reduce exposure of large areas of filtered mine tailings to windy conditions. In this manner, dust is less likely to become airborne.
- Moisture content in the filtered mine tailings delivered to the dry stacking area will be between 10% and 15%. This is sufficient moisture to ensure that dust is not generated on the belts or in the filtered mine tailings placement in the stacking operation.
- Filtered mine tailings will be stacked using a tripper arrangement on mobile conveyors. This stacking method creates an irregular shape to the placed filtered mine tailings, again breaking up airflow patterns so dust does not become entrained. Also, dozers, trippers, and mobile conveyors will reduce the need for wheeled vehicles to drive across the filtered mine tailings, minimizing dust.
- Application of a binder material. This material binds particles on the surface of the filtered tailings so that the particles do not become airborne.
- Application of an agglomeration chemical to lines along the conveyor system. This process would bind smaller particles together to make a larger grain size in the placed filtered mine tailings.
- Application of water to suppress dust. Because water conservation is a very high priority, this is the least favorable physical control available.
6. Smart Mining Technologies for the Management of Filtered Mine Tailings for High Production Rates Considering Industry 4.0 Paradigm
7. Outlook and Future Directions
- Provision of secure, long-term storage of filtered mine tailings, which is sufficient for the ore to be mined and processed during approximately the project lifetime at a projected production rate over 100,000 mtpd.
- Minimizing water seepage from mine tailings into groundwater in compliance with all applicable regulations, including local water quality standards.
- Creating a site-specific design that accounts for local factors, including climate, geology, hydrogeology, and seismicity.
- Establishment of an effective and efficient mine closure program, with a focus on progressive reclamation.
8. Conclusions
- TSF footprint can be reduced by approximately 1/3, compared to a conventional mine tailings storage facility area.
- 90% of the process water can be recovered for reuse in metallurgical plants.
- The operational costs (OPEX) of the dry stacking of filtered mine tailings technology, even on a large industrial scale, is less than 2.0 USD / dry t.
- Mine tailings production rates over 100,000 mtpd can be high-pressure dewatered.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
TSF | Tailings Storage Facility |
BATs | Best Available Technologies |
BAPs | Best Applicable Practices |
BEPs | Best Environmental Practices |
ARD | Acid Rock Drainage |
GISTM | Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management |
NGOs | Non-Governmental Organizations |
CTD | Conventional Tailings Disposal |
TTD | Thickened Tailings Disposal |
PTD | Paste Tailings Disposal |
FTD | Filtered Tailings Disposal |
GPS | Global Positioning System |
IoT | Internet of Things |
AI | Artificial Intelligence |
ML | Machine Learning |
UAVs | Unmanned Aerial Vehicles |
KPIs | Key Performance Indicators |
P&IDs | Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams |
ESG | Environmental, Social, and Governance |
EoR | Engineer of Record |
ICTs | Information and Communication Technologies |
CAPEX | Capital Costs |
OPEX | Operational Costs |
USD | United States Dollar |
Cw | Slurry tailings solids content by weight |
mtpd | Metric tons per day |
masl | Meters above sea level |
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Description | Unit | Conventional Tailings Management | Thickened Tailings Management | Filtered Tailings Management |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tailings Production | mtpd | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
Cw before Dewatering | % | 28 | 28 | 28 |
Water on Conventional Tailings | L/s | 2976 | 2976 | 2976 |
Cw after Dewatering | % | 50 | 60 | 80 |
Water on Dewatered Tailings | L/s | 1157 | 772 | 289 |
Water Recovery from Dewatering Devices | L/s | 1819 | 2205 | 2687 |
Water Recovery from TSF | L/s | 382 | 255 | 95 |
Total Water Recovery | L/s | 2201 | 2459 | 2782 |
Water Recovery Efficiency | % | 74 | 83 | 93 |
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Cacciuttolo, C.; Atencio, E. Dry Stacking of Filtered Tailings for Large-Scale Production Rates over 100,000 Metric Tons per Day: Envisioning the Sustainable Future of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. Minerals 2023, 13, 1445. https://doi.org/10.3390/min13111445
Cacciuttolo C, Atencio E. Dry Stacking of Filtered Tailings for Large-Scale Production Rates over 100,000 Metric Tons per Day: Envisioning the Sustainable Future of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities. Minerals. 2023; 13(11):1445. https://doi.org/10.3390/min13111445
Chicago/Turabian StyleCacciuttolo, Carlos, and Edison Atencio. 2023. "Dry Stacking of Filtered Tailings for Large-Scale Production Rates over 100,000 Metric Tons per Day: Envisioning the Sustainable Future of Mine Tailings Storage Facilities" Minerals 13, no. 11: 1445. https://doi.org/10.3390/min13111445