The distribution of tailings within a facility depend s on the type of tailings, deposition method, age of tailings, deposition locations, geometry of the facility, deposition environment sub aqueous, sub areal, and many other factors. Tailings are backfilled into open pit mines and therefore. Frequently, tailings are cycloneclassified before deposition. It is typically much easier to access tailings samples from the perimeter of the storage and a natural bias to relatively coarser results in. Modelling a tailings deposition using civil 3d kriging. Software solution established for efficacious tailings management. Tailings mobilization estimates for dam breach studies.
The mining company must be considered dewatering before disposal or storage of tailing slurry. Waiting until year 2 by which point the pit will be partially filled with tailings will help to reduce the haulage. It is therefore essential that while investigating the properties of tailings that the physical characteristics and material parameters e. The upper surface of tailings may become dry and partially unsaturated, but the lower. Tailings storage facilities provide an inherent risk to mining operations. The website focused at tailings related handling and. The transition from operations to closure brings about numerous challenges that need to be dealt with in order to achieve specific closure.
Rather than investing in endofpipe solutions, a systematic and progressive approach to waste problems, with full. Tailings management our tailings group formerly australian tailings consultants has built an international reputation encompassing all aspects of mine tailings management, including tailings testing and characterisation, thickening and dewatering, transport, storage and embankment design, technical assistance during construction, surveillance and auditing, closure and water management. Tailing disposal methods and tailings dam construction design. Even low intensity echo sounder energy may penetrate substantially through the tailings deposit and the penetration will differ. Atc williams recognise that standard testing procedures are, in many cases, not appropriate for the testing of mine tailings. Over the last decade, the mining industry has come a long way in improving how it. It enables users to sort data about tailings dams by location, company, dam type.
Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore. Rift software rift td tailings deposition modelling. On e of the most significant and challenging aspects of the successful closure of a tailings storage facility tsf is the postoperational water management of the tailings surface. Tailings transport testing and design in assosiation with thrid party vendors and engineering companies. The overflow from the tailings thickener is sent to the water reclaim pond and then recycled back into the process. Today, the universal disposal method for tailings is the tailing pond. In 1985, tailings dams built to store waste from flourite mining failed due to poor design and extreme water pressure. The processing and storage of mine tailings is a key environmental issue for mining projects around the world. Paragon tailings are able to implement bestpractice tsf management and operational practices with the required management, operations and technical skills deployed to ensure sustainable effective operations. Tailings containment facilities are regarded as the worlds largest manmade objects. Mine tailings cycloning wikipedia photo courtesy of jack caldwell mine tailings fundamentals.
Rift td advanced tailings deposition modelling software rift td is an advanced threedimensional digital terrain model, specifically developed to model tailings deposition. Tailings can be discharged using subaqueous below water or subaerial techniques above the water line, on the ground or on the tailings beach dpi 2003. Tailings is a combination of the finegrained typically siltsized, in the range from 0. It also allows for control of the beached characteristics of the tailings to shed water at closure while reducing earthworks costs. Tailings are slurried with water and pumped to tailing ponds for settling. A tailings deposition that looks realistic, showing flow originating from each point a spigot at a specified grades outwards until it is bound by the existing ground or a designed embankment. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed the extraction of minerals from ore can be done two ways. Geotechnical properties of mine tailings and implications for. Discover weir minerals advanced capabilities in the tailings space, delivering. The mention of company or product names is not to be considered an endorsement by the u. Rift software mine magazine issue 72 september 2018. These are developed on a scale from c, b, a, aa and aaa, with aaa representing the best practice. Mine tailings deposition practices, liquefaction potential.
From the mill, the tailings is often pumped to surface storage facilities which. The difference in results between the 2d models for a tsf used in goldsim and the same models run using a 3d deposition model are explored, and advantages and limitations of this approach. Search 58 mine tailings jobs now available on, the worlds largest job site. Our inhouse experienced specialised tailings deposition team has a proven local and international track record. Water content at the mudline is very high and the solids content increases slowly and gradually through the sub bottom profile. Deposition to the tailings cells will be cycled in a way that maximises the. In an interview with leaders and mining, adam darby, a principal in golder associates mine waste management group, speaks to the recent recognition received for best presentation at the 1st congress on solidliquid separation and tailings treatment organized by edoctum, where he presented tailings management facilities. Design and evaluation of tailings dams disclaimer and acknowledgements this document was prepared by the u. Tailings characteristics can vary greatly and are dependent on the ore mineralogy together with the physical and chemical processes used to extract the economic product.
Two hundred thousand cubic meters 186,462 cubic miles of. This means that tailings management needs to be effective throughout the life of an operation, from initial feasibility through to closure and postclosure. Dry stacking of tailings is normally carried out by a radial conveyor stacker or by truck davies and rice 2001. Our company has built a reputation encompassing aspects of the tailings management lifecycle, with a focus on tailings testing and characterization, dewatering and filtration, technical assistance for plant optimization and debottlenecking, and solutions assembled for water management. An alternative involves reshaping the tsf during operations using tailings to create the closure landform by modifying the deposition strategy to dispose tailings in targeted areas in the latter stages of the mine life, significantly reducing postoperations earthworks and construction requirements. The mount polley tailings breach what took place mount polley tailings storage facility used to store copper. The influence of depositional methods on the engineering properties of tailings deposits dr.
Tailings mineral industry solution westech engineering, inc. Clients can partner with cec mining systems and its strong network of industry partners at any stage of the mining life cycle. In addition to the ipd, mrm has also advised that they intend to codispose 7. This seamless approach is a departure from the traditional industry. The management of tailings, both during and after mining, is the responsibility of mining companies and is subject to advanced regulatory regimes.
The engineering characteristics of tailings are in most instances influenced by the degree of thickening and the method of deposition. Itasca is a global, employeeowned, engineering consulting and software firm, working primarily with the geomechanics, hydrogeological and microseismics communities. Mine tailings size and composition depends on the mining method. They have six protocols that address some of the main issues that mining companies have, one of which is tailings management. The program sets up a set of expectations that companies will be judged against in order to acheive a higher standard. With innovative products, global field support and industry leading technical expertise, basf mining solutions provides sustainable solutions which increase productivity, recovery and flexibility throughout the mining operations including leaching, solvent extraction, flotation, solidliquid separation and tailings management. The global tailings portal, launched in january 2020, is a free, searchable database. Normally, the coarse tailings settle near the point of deposition, while fine tailings settle towards the beach.
Existing oilsands tailings deposit data from three different type s of tailings facilities, constructed. The water in slurry forms a pool on the sloped beach. Surface disposal of past tailings at the bulyanhulu gold mine. This paper discusses how goldsim and muk3d have been integrated allowing for 3d tailings deposition to be incorporated into an existing water balance model.
David anstey is a senior tailings engineer with more 18 years experience working in australia and canada as a geotechnical and mine waste engineer. Simulations were used to ensure that the required volumes of material generated could be accommodated, given limiting criteria. The procedure usually adopted in such cases is to separate the tailing into coarse sand and fines in a classifier, and to use the coarse product to build up the wall. Tailings deposition method the liquefaction potential of the tailings where upstream and centreline construction methods can be more susceptible to dynamic and static loading assessment of the effects of tsf failures dam break studies under a combination of worst case scenarios, and provision of control and management requirements. Geotechnical properties of mine tailings and implications. It is typically much easier to access tailings samples from the perimeter of the storage and a natural bias to relatively coarser results in the database may thus be introduced. But how can we do this quickly without software like muck 3d and vulcan.
For conventional storage the tailings are generally discharged from spigotsoutfalls located. Ongoing deposition will require the main tailings distribution line to be relocated to the. Aug 20, 2019 david anstey is a senior tailings engineer with more 18 years experience working in australia and canada as a geotechnical and mine waste engineer. Focus on tailings operational tailings solids management allows for control of the size and position of the supernatant pool and the density of the tailings at closure. A case history is presented to illustrate how the tailings dam construction method must be coordinated with the method of tailings deposition. Mine tailings subaqueous deposition mine tailings fundamentals. With innovative products, global field support and industry leading technical expertise, basf mining solutions provides sustainable solutions which increase productivity, recovery and flexibility throughout the mining operations including leaching, solvent extraction. Tailings definition, the part of a projecting stone or brick tailed or inserted in a wall. List of tailings dam companies, manufacturers and suppliers. Fraser alexander utilises toras technical and operational risk assessment system to monitor and manage risk and compliance of all deposition contracts to international legislation, best practice, governance standards, technical criteria and required documentation. Surface disposal of past tailings at the bulyanhulu gold. Our inventory of tsfs comprises active and 52 inactive or reclaimed facilities with an upstream design, five active and five inactive with a centerline design, and one reclaimed facility with a downstream design.
The various reject streams are sent to a tailings thickener. In this unit the solids are allowed to settle and are then pumped to a tailings pond for further settling and water reclamation. Strategies for a successful transition from operations to closure. Its evident there is a drive within the mining industry to investigate. Deposition various methodologies performed, principally mcphail. Utilizing its expertise in slurry dewatering technologies, westpro offers turnkey tailings management systems that allows owners to reduce or eliminate costly tailings ponds by producing stackable tailings. The company believes that the isometrix tms is currently the only offering available.
Operational tailings management for successful closure. This paper focuses on estimating the volume of tailings released from the facility with the initial flood wave. Tailings dam construction design of slime is likely to slide and cause the dam to break away. April 2006 6 0662231 golder associates by mdh engineered solutions mdh, 2004a and 2005 concluded that ongoing fine tailings deposition on the top of. A geostatistical study to quantify uncertainty in tailings. Coarse sands are used to buildup the tailing dam, while the slimes are deposited inside the pond. We offer a large range of services from conventional to tailor made innovative solutions, using a mix of traditional and latest technologies, including thickened and filtered tailings.
Join our growing community of environmental professionals who are currently subscribed to weekly newsletters, product alerts, job alerts, and our monthly event updates and article newsletters. In our tailings storage facility designs we place great emphasis on the post deposition behaviour of tailings and have developed specific tests to provide the data needed to optimise tailings management. The tailings basin footprint will be expanded in a modular fashion as required. Rift td is an advanced and easy to use 3d digital terrain model developed to model tailings deposition. Oct 02, 2014 a tailings deposition that looks realistic, showing flow originating from each point a spigot at a specified grades outwards until it is bound by the existing ground or a designed embankment.
Tailings are sometimes over or underestimated, excluded, or incorrectly reported. Site 1c has a relatively larger embankment length and volume requiring more effort for embankment raises and spigot positioning for tailings deposition and also has a relatively long pipeline to operate requiring larger pumps. Workflow and software guide for constructing a three dimensional. Tailings deposition into open pit consolidation modelling. Tailings are distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed. Sections of this document rely heavily on steven g. For hardrock metal mines, tailings are usually a very fine mud or powder, which is left over after ore is crushed and valuable minerals are extracted from it. In the last 15 years, both golder associates and i have worked professionally in the specific area of tailings management facilities, seeking to raise the profile of these. Tailings dams are structures built with earth, rockfill, tailings and even. Alternative uses of tailings tailings management weir group. Affiliates of our company currently operate 18 tailings storage facilities tsfs, 16 in the u.
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