A framework for a sustainable approach to mine tailings …

Mineral processing plants produce two types of products, categorised as either economic or non-economic. The non-economic product, usually known as tailings, consists of waste (by-product), small quantities of valuable minerals or metals, chemicals, organics, and process water (Lottermoser, 2010, TI, 2014).The volume of tailings generated by mines can be …

Mine tailings: Waste not, want not – The …

Rethinking the mine-waste system. The Waste to Value Challenge is about exploring new approaches to managing waste across the mining process to create better value from 'waste' and reduce the footprint of mining …

Mining & Mineral Processing Southern Africa

Mine tailings are the waste materials generated during the mining process, which often contain a mixture of crushed rocks, chemicals, and potentially hazardous materials such as heavy metals, asbestos, and …

8.2: Mining and Ore Processing

The rest of the rock is known as tailings. It comes out of the concentrator as a wet slurry and is typically stored near to the mine, in most cases within a tailings pond. The tailings pond at the Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide copper-zinc-silver-gold Myra Falls Mine on Vancouver Island is shown on Figure 8.2.3.

How to reshape the future of tailings?

The way tailings are handled can have a long-term impact on the mines' economic efficiency, risk management and sustainability. Stacking of tailings is still unconventional compared to the wet tailings dam approach. …

A review of circular economy strategies for mine tailings

The biggest waste streams both in metal value and in volume in mining are tailings, which create long-term environmental liabilities to the companies (Wang et al., 2014) due to the potential for acid rock drainage generation (Simate and Ndlovu, 2014) from sulphidic tailings.Instead of considering the tailings only as an environmental challenge, the tailings …

Mine tailings: reprocess, recover & recycle

By reprocessing tailings, dewatering them and then storing them in a dry stack, mines can remove some of the economic, environmental and societal risks associated with …

Tailings.info What Are Tailings?

Tailings consist of ground rock and process effluents that are generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the mine ore and produce a waste stream …

(PDF) Recycling strategies of mine tailing, and its …

rock waste (sterile), mineral processing tailings (generated in mineral processing pro- cesses, being rock, soil, loose sediments, fine/ultrafine particles), meta llurgical slag,

Towards safer, more sustainable handling of mine tailings

Mining involves the processing of mined ore to separate valuable minerals, leaving behind huge volumes of waste tailings. Driven by mining volumes, globally generated tailings are estimated to total ~3.2 bn tons for copper and ~1.8 bn tons for iron per annum. Water conservation and the cost of tailings and reclamation are also becoming ...

CHAPTER II MINE TAILINGS 4 FACILITIES: OVERVIEW 3 2 …

processing. The composition of mine tailings varies according to the mineralogy of the ore deposit and how the ore is processed. The tailings are most commonly stored on site in a tailings storage facility. Storage methods for conventional tailings include cross-valley and paddock

How to generate value from tailings with reprocessing to

This helps mining companies to reduce possible water losses as well as cleanup the existing tailings dams or eliminate them completely while providing an opportunity to convert mine waste to value.

Socio-Environmental Risks Linked with Mine Tailings …

Typical sulphide gold ore flowsheet process of gold mine tailings management. Because the flotation process is physical, the mine tailings solution is expected to be composed of elements found in the source water used for the process, residual flotation reagents, calcium from lime addition, and any easily soluble salts of the mineral .

Management of Tailings Facilities

CHAnGes in version 3.1 Version 3.1 is an update to the third edition of A Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities (the Tailings Guide), released in November 2017, to reflect the second edition of MAC's Developing an Operation, Maintenance, and Surveillance Manual for Tailings and Water Management Facilities (the OMS Guide), released at the same time as …

CHAPTER V MINE TAILINGS – A SYSTEMS APPROACH

practices in the area of tailings management so this essential industry can continue with far less impact to the communities where mining takes place. Progress in tailings management requires taking into consideration that tailings are part of a complex system. There is more complexity to managing tailings than can be handled by simple linear ...

Tailings Guide

A Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities (the Tailings Guide) is designed to be applied by MAC members and non-MAC members alike, anywhere in the world. The Tailings Guide provides guidance on responsible tailings management, helps companies develop and implement site-specific tailings management systems, and improves consistency of application of engineering …

Tailings storage facilities, failures and disaster risk | Nature

Mining generates 13 billion tonnes per year of potentially toxic wet slurry waste, called tailings, commonly deposited in tailings storage facilities (TSF). Since 1915, 257 TSF failures have ...

Mine tailings

Current research at the Colorado School of Mines (Nelson et al., 2020) is focused on determining the chemical and mineralogical characteristics of mine and mineral processing tailings, which will allow the determination of melt composition and variability possible to achieve desired melt temperatures and other process-pertinent properties.

Remediating mine tailings and recovering gold | Mining

Orr said the patented Bacox bioleaching technology is applied to the processing of toxic, arsenic-laden mine tailings. An added benefit of bioleaching—in addition to stabilizing arsenic and capturing heavy metals—is that it oxidizes sulphides in mine tailings, thereby eliminating a major source of acid mine drainage.

Take two: why mine tailings are worth another look

The Global Tailings Portal – a free, searchable database with detailed information on more than 1,800 mine tailings storage facilities (TSFs) ... The 12-month ReTail project, in partnership with CPI, aims to establish the feasibility and environmental impact of processing tailings from Altilium's site in Europe to extract copper, aluminium ...

Tailings

Tailings are Mine Waste. Tailings are the waste materials left after the target mineral is extracted from ore. They consist of: ... Tailings: (sometimes called dry stack): tailings that have a reduced water content, or "filtered", after mill processing. The resulting tailings are like a moist soil and can be stacked in piles and compacted. ...

Mine Tailings: The Cornerstone of Safe Mining …

In mining, tailings refer to the residual waste material that remains after the desired minerals have been separated from the ore during the mining process. These typically consist of finely ground rock particles, water, and …

Converting Tailings Dumps into Mineral Resources

Extraction of valuable metals from tailings dumps (or residues or low grade stockpiles) traditionally regarded as waste, has long been researched by metallurgists. A number of developments in mineral processing technology have combined to make the retreatment of numerous tailings dumps a profitable

Tailings: being clear on the opportunities and the risks

As tailings cannot readily be returned to the mine due to ongoing activity, they are stored in a 'tailings storage facility', or TSF. This is often a large pond, where the tailings are stored together with process water.

Recycling and Reuse of Mine Tailings: A Review of …

The findings of this review serve as a supporting reference for decision-makers concerning the related sustainability issues associated with mining, mineral processing, and solid waste management ...

An Introduction to Tailings Facilities

Modern tailings facilities are engineering projects which comply with specific design, safety, and environmental control regulatory requirements. Responsible tailings management considers specific characteristics of tailings, water …

How to manage tailings efficiently and …

To address these industry needs, our Tailings Management Solutions takes a comprehensive approach and combines three practices - dewatering the tailings, handling them properly and reprocessing new and …

A Comprehensive Review on Mine Tailings as a Raw …

The mining industry generates vast quantities of mine tailings on an annual basis. However, due to their limited economic value, a significant portion of these tailings are deposited close to mining sites, often underwater. The principal environmental apprehensions associated with mine tailings revolve around their elevated levels of heavy metals and sulfidic minerals. …

What is mine tailings and how to process

Mine tailings are the waste materials left over after the extraction of valuable minerals and metals from ore. ... - Process: Tailings are pumped into engineered ponds or impoundments where the ...

How to manage tailings efficiently and …

Supporting your operations, from plant design expertise to equipment, parts and services for every stage of your process. Explore Mining Explore commodities Battery minerals Lithium Gold ... In the early stages of …

Management of Tailings Facilities

The third edition of the Tailings Guide is another step in the continual improvement process for tailings management, moving towards the goal of minimizing harm: zero catastrophic failures …

A new approach to tailings management – Process productivity

Tailings management has long been a concern in mineral processing operations, and recently has been brought back to our attention after multiple facility failures. In this month's blog, we look at how switching from a reactive to a proactive approach to tailings management can provide more long term economic, social and safety benefits.

Treasure from trash: how mining waste can be mined a …

Elsewhere in Tasmania, a similar project is under way to recover gold, and another is proposed to recover tin from mine tailings. Overseas, mine tailings reprocessing projects are planned as far ...

Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Gold from Mining Wastes

Gold is a highly required material for a wide range of personal and industrial applications. The high demand for gold, together with the shortage of natural resources and high pollution potential of wastes generated during mining and ore processing activities led to search for alternative sources of gold. A possible source is represented by mine wastes resulting from …

An extensive review on restoration technologies for mining tailings

Tailing, in context to mining, is defined as the waste or non-economic by-product generated during mining activities, processing of minerals, and other materials that contain small amounts of residual valuable minerals, chemicals, water, and heavy metals (Adiansyah et al. 2015).Studies indicated that the process of mineral exploitation and utilization generated a …

Mine Tailing

Mine tailings contain high amounts of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and chemical agents that can persist for hundreds of years (Delgado, ... The concentrate from the flotation step is retained for further metallurgical processing. Mill tailings are the residual material, including sulfide gangue minerals, that is discharged to tailings ...

Recycling and Reuse of Mine Tailings: A Review of …

Mining is an important industry, accounting for 6.9% of global GDP. However, global development promotes accelerated demand, resulting in the accumulation of hazardous waste in land, sea, and air environments. It reached 7 billion tonnes of mine tailings generated yearly worldwide, and 19 billion solid tailings will be accumulated by 2025. Adding to this, the …

Feasibility of re-processing mine tailings to obtain critical …

The advantages of mine tailings re-processing include the recovery of desirable metals in one location, ensuring land reclamation, reduction of landfill areas, diminishing the concentration of harmful compounds, and no need to open new mines (Binnemans et al., 2013; Farjana et al., 2019; Ganguli and Cook, 2018).

The Reprocessing and Revalorization of Critical Minerals in Mine Tailings

Mine tailings, the byproduct of mining and mineral processing, are increasingly mass produced as a result of increased demand for metals and minerals as well as the advancement in technology that allows for the exploitation of lower-grade ores. Lower grades can increase the volume of tailings that may contain new gangue minerals that should be …