What are tailings in the mining industry?

What are tailings in the mining industry?

Tailings are the mineral waste remaining after the processing of ore to extract mineral concentrates and are typically stored within an engineered containment structure known as a tailing storage facility or TSF.

What are mine tailings made of?

Mine tailings are usually produced from the mill in slurry form, which is a mixture of fine mineral particles and water.

What are tailings and why are they so controversial?

Minerals are processed so we can gain access to the desired minerals. What are tailings and what are they so controversial? They lead to much of the pollution associated with mining. while the mines cause habitats to be temporary destroyed and miners can get lung diseases from breathing in mineral particles in the air.

How long do tailings dams last?

According to mining engineer David M Chambers of the Center for Science in Public Participation, 10,000 years is “a conservative estimate” of how long most tailings dams will need to maintain structural integrity.

Where do tailings go?

Tailings are generally stored on the surface either within retaining structures or in the form of piles (dry stacks) but can also be stored underground in mined out voids by a process commonly referred to as backfill.

How are mine tailings stored?

Tailings, most often in the form of a wet slurry, are conventionally stored above-ground behind earthen dams. There is no comprehensive global registry of tailings dams. It is estimated there are around 18,000 dams, 3,500 of which are active.

Where are mine tailings stored?

Tailings, most often in the form of a wet slurry, are conventionally stored above-ground behind earthen dams.

How many tailings dams are in Australia?

In 2019 BHP announced that 32 of its 67 tailing dams were built using the upstream method and classified as ‘high risk or worse. ‘ Four of the five ‘extreme risk’ dams are in Australia – Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in WA and three at Olympic Dam in South Australia.

Why must mine tailings be stored and disposed of carefully?

Answer: Tailings must be stored and disposed of carefully because they hold various toxic chemicals and materials. These chemicals can cause erosion and sinkholes, and contaminating soil and water supplies.

What are tailing storage facilities?

Tailing storage facilities (TSFs) are reservoirs that store mine tailings, which is fine-grained waste material in suspension that is discharged from an ore processing plant or coal preparation plant. Inappropriate storage of tailings can lead to safety, health and environmental hazards.

How are tailings stored in a tailings storage facility?

4.1 TAILINGS STORAGE FACILITY (TSF) The process tailings are pumped in a slurry to the TSF at a solids concentration around 45 to 48% (ratio of mass of solids to total mass of solids and water) and distributed to four tailings storage cells (Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1).

What are the water management considerations for tailings?

The risk of physical instability for a conventional tailings facility can be reduced by having good drainage and little (if any) ponded water. Simply put, ‘no water, no problem’.

How is freeboard management used in tailings storage?

Freeboard is used to establish the elevation of the lowest point of the embankment crest relative to the normal or maximum operating levels of the supernatant pond (SANS 1998). Freeboard management is a critical factor used to control water of a conventional tailings storage impoundment (DME 1998).

What are the management considerations for tailings embankments?

For a conventional impoundment (particularly upstream and centreline designed) it is essential that the ponded water be kept to a minimum volume and the freeboard be sufficiently high all along the tailings embankment (s). Suitable monitoring and management of the supernatant pond is required to operate a TMF safely.