The novel disposal methods of solid wastes of a mining and milling operation with emphasise on Codisposal technology

Subject Areas : Environmental pollutions (water, soil and air)

Ali Behnamfard ¹ , Salman Ghasemi ²

1 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Mining Engineering, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. *(Corresponding Author)
2 - M.Sc. in Mineral processing, Faculty of Mining Engineering, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran.

Received: 2016-10-25 Accepted : 2017-01-04 Published : 2018-12-22

Keywords: Mining Activities, Waste Rock, Mill Tailing, Disposal Methods, Codisposal,

Abstract :

The solid waste materials produced during mining activities can be divided into two categoriesof waste rock and tailing. The waste rock must be removed and placed in a dump to mine the ore. The waste rock dump is heterogeneous in terms of structure and grain size. The waste rock may range in size from less than 0.1 mm to greater than 1 m in diameter. Tailing is said to the material which is discarded after ore processing. The tailing has usually a small particle size distribution and high water content which results in a poor mechanical stability. It may also contains heavy metals and different process reagents which probably toxic to biota in an ecosystem. Hence, they must be disposed of in certain locations with implementing safety issues. In this article, the conventional and novel disposal methods including tailing dam disposal, backfilling, in-pit disposal and submarine disposal have been introduced. Furthermore, the novel codisposal method which uses the open void space in waste rock for disposal of the tailing has been introduced and its advantages have been listed. Then, the relevant parameters for the evaluation of the applicability of this method have been introduced and different techniques for mixing of two solid wastes in this method have been mentioned and a case study has been reported. Considering to the high benefits, codisposal method can be applied in different mine sites in our country.

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