Grice A.

1998, The 2nd Annual Summit – Mine Tailings Disposal Systems, Brisbane

Underground Mining With Backfill

By A Grice 1

Introduction include waste development rock, deslimed and whole mill

tailings, quarried and crushed aggregate, and alluvial or aeolian
Backfill is an increasingly important component of sand. Other exotic backfill types used overseas include ice and
underground mining operations around the world. This paper salt.
will give a brief overview of the current application of mining
with backfill technology, focusing on Australian operations. In The waste materials are often placed with very lean cement or
the context of this summit, the disposal of mine tailings other pozzolanic binders to improve the strength properties.
underground not only reduces the environmental impact but
provides the base of an engineering material which can be used Gravity based delivery methods are utilised for slurry based
to improve both the ground conditions and the economics of systems with the dense tailings slurry being delivered by
mining. Carefully engineered and efficiently run backfill pipeline to the disposal point in the stope. These pipelines can
systems can significantly enhance a mining operation. By range from low pressure (less than 1MPa) turbulent flow
contrast, badly engineered and poorly run backfill can be a systems for deslimed slurries to high pressure (greater than
serious impediment to the mine and, worst of all, compromise 5MPa) laminar flow systems for pastefill.
safety.
Sometimes backfill only acts as a void filler and needs only
This paper will briefly describe how backfill contributes to a sufficient strength to prevent any form of remobilisation.
mining operation, the types available and some mining methods Where backfill is used as an engineering material it requires
that use it. It will cover the method of selecting the appropriate sufficient strength be exposed by ore pillar mining in tall
backfill system and some of the challenges and opportunities vertical faces or undercuts. Lean cement addition is used to
that arise from the selection process. generate unconfined compressive strengths ranging from 0.5 to
4 MPa.
The paper will discuss each of the backfill types in turn,
commencing with hydraulic fills. The concept of mine tailings The other essential requirement is that backfill must be of low
disposal will be expanded to include waste rock in order to cost. Typical costs of backfill range from $2 to $20 per cubic
cover the important rock backfill systems, which are used in the metre, depending on the duty required. These costs can be a
biggest underground mines. The paper will then cover pastefill, significant contribution to the operating costs of the mine.
which has been newly reintroduced into Australia. Where cemented backfills are used, these costs tend to be
between 10 and 20% of the total operating cost of the mine and
The following terms will be used throughout: cement represents up to 75% of that cost.

Hydraulic backfill Why Backfill?

Deslimed mill tailings slurries, with densities raised to over
70%Cw (solids by weight). The coarser fractions are placed Backfill has a typical low modulus of elasticity of around
underground as hydraulic backfill and the slimes rejected to the 500MPa and is typically one to two orders of magnitude less
surface dam. stiff than the surrounding rock. The purpose of the backfill is
not to transmit the rock stresses, but to reduce the relaxation of
the rock mass so the rock itself will retain a load carrying
Paste backfill
capacity and will improve load shedding to crown pillars and
Total mill tailings filtered or thickened to around 80%Cw to abutments (Barrett et al, 19781). This leads to less deterioration
which cement and water is then added to achieve the required in ground conditions in the mine, improving operations and
rheological and strength characteristics. Any rejects to the dam safety.
are at the full tailings sizing range.
Adding low percentages of ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of
Rock backfill between 3% and 6% by weight, permits the development of
Waste rock from surface or underground and crushed to a cohesive strength and the ability for the backfill mass to be self
typical top size of around 40mm. This can be placed as is or supporting when exposed in vertical faces by adjacent pillar
with cemented hydraulic backfill slurry or cement water slurry. mining. The self supporting nature of the backfill permits
higher recovery of pillar ore, which in turn improves the
utilisation of the mining reserve and the economics of the
What is Backfill? mining operation. Increased ore recovery results in longer mine
lives.
Backfill refers to any waste material that is placed into voids
mined underground for the purposes of either disposal or to
In some mining methods the backfill forms a working platform
perform some engineering function. Waste materials used
for people and equipment and therefore must be capable of
supporting the traffic. Generally, cement is not required in this
application.
1. Principal Mining Engineer, AMC Consultants Pty Ltd, 19/114 William
Street, Melbourne Vic 3000 E-mail: [email protected]
Underground Mining with Backfill

The placement of backfill underground directly reduces the showed that exposures 40 metres wide and virtually unlimited
quantity to be disposed on surface. This has direct operating in height could be created with little risk of fill failure (Leahy &
and capital cost benefits and reductions in future rehabilitation Cowling, 19786). A large number of stopes were filled with
costs. cemented hydraulic fill alone where geometry precluded the
addition of rock. All stopes not requiring future re-exposure
Nantel (19982) raised the emerging trend in Canada where were filled with uncemented hydraulic fill. These stopes were
future environmental permitting for underground mines will an important part of the backfill operations since these stopes
require the return of the maximum quantity of mine wastes to often formed low priority “sand dumps” where deslimed
the underground workings. This trend has reached the logical tailings could be placed whenever other sources were not
limit in the recent Federal Government recommendation available. Considerable quantities of deslimed tailings have
approving an option for the proposed Jabiluka Mine (JMA been placed underground at Mount Isa through the life of the
alternative) where ALL milling wastes may be required to be mining operation. Bloss (19967) records that 64 million tonnes
placed underground. of backfill has been placed into the 1100 Orebody since 1973,
over half of which has been deslimed tailings.
Mining Methods using Backfill
Coal mining in Australia has not traditionally used backfill,
Early mining methods either left open voids after the ore had relying instead on caving of the overlying sediments with
been removed or permitted the caving of the surrounding waste surface subsidence occurring in shallower operations. By
rock. Caving methods often resulted in surface subsidence. contrast, Polish coal operations have widely used hydraulic
Temporary and permanent timber supports enabled larger sized backfill to both minimise surface subsidence and to enable
workings and there is a rich history of mining in the 18th and thick seam extraction methods (Palarski, 19938). An Australian
19th centuries using timber alone. One of the earliest records of desktop study (ACARP, 19979) has identified the use of
backfilling in Australia as a discrete technique was the washery tailings to improve the extraction potential of punch
placement of aggregate from lead jig wastes at Mount Isa in mining in highwall coal operations.
1933 tipped directly from the mill by conveyor to square set
timber stopes. This was done both for disposal purposes and for More recently, Wambo Mining Corporation placed cemented
stabilising the working areas by providing an improved backfill into a series of headings in the path of the Longwall
platform. No. 9 at Homestead Colliery near Singleton. The sand, flyash
and cement mix was designed to 4MPa strength. This permitted
Cut and fill mining methods evolved to use hydraulic fill as a the uninterrupted mining through the heading area without the
bulk filling material. The tailings slurries were deslimed and need for several weeks of shutdown. No ground stability
densified to achieve a reasonable permeability and to minimise problems were encountered and Wambo concluded that the cost
the water that would drain out. The fill would provide an of the backfill project was revenue positive. This technique has
effective surface to walk on after a few hours and for a wide range of applications to underground coal mining
equipment to be moved on it within a day or so. The fill would problems.
provide a mucking horizon and confinement to the exposed
rock below. In some mines, cement was routinely added to Lane10 will be discussing details of disposal of tailings into
improve cohesion but at significant additional cost. Rock and open pits later in this summit. Other uses of backfill in open
other mine wastes were routinely disposed in cut and fill stopes. pits include the early extraction of ore in the crown between the
pit and the underground workings and replacing it with a stiff
At the Black Swan nickel mine in WA, a marker bed of finely and impermeable backfill pillar.
graded and compacted sand is placed on the top of the placed
rockfill to act as a digging horizon and to prevent the loss of Framework for Backfill Selection
high grade nickel ore into the fill (McGurk & Lock, 19983). At
Henty Gold Mine in Tasmania, paste backfill is being placed in The selection of a backfill system for a mine is increasingly a
the cut and fill stopes (Henderson et al, 19984). part of the overall plan for the mining of the orebody. This plan
takes into account the full life cycle of the operation, including
The benching method evolved from experience with sub level shutdown and rehabilitation of the site. Clearly, the use of
open stoping and applying the long hole drilling methods to the backfill in the mine will reduce these end of life costs and the
cut and fill mining areas. At Mount Isa, the cut and fill stopes overall environmental impact. Discounted cashflow techniques
(MICAF) were initially mechanised to use trackless are the appropriate technique to provide the economic analysis.
development equipment (MECAF) and then long hole drilling This permits assessment of the full operating and capital costs
rigs were introduced to mine several lifts in one go, over short of the project and takes into full account the impact of
strike lengths. Hydraulic backfill, dry aggregate and mine expenditure on backfill now compared to rehabilitation later.
development waste are used when available (Villaescusa &
Kuganathan, 19985). The controlling factors on backfill The assessment of the use of backfill in a mine is an iterative
placement are the need to maintain stable bench sizes and the process. During the feasibility stage, a number of mining
need for working platforms for the heavy mobile equipment. methods may be identified for a particular orebody. Factors
such as mining rate, resource recovery and dilution levels are
Long hole open stoping methods with post backfill have considered. These will provide a base set of options from which
become a major low cost mining method around the world. By improved alternatives can be compared. The mining methods
designing integrated mining and backfill systems, very high ore can then be considered from the view of the backfill systems.
extraction ratios are possible. Using combinations of cemented Questions arise that need to be addressed;
and uncemented backfill optimises costs. At Mount Isa, crushed
rock was added at high ratios to cemented hydraulic fill to • What improvements to ground conditions can be
create very lean cement masses. Early experience quickly expected?

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Underground Mining with Backfill

• What is the increase in resource recovery rate? The range of mining methods, backfill types, supply and
• What is the impact on ventilation? processing options are then put together to determine a short list
of two or three technically feasible systems. Only those systems
• Do the dilution rates increase or decrease? that meet all of the operating and geotechnical needs of the
• Will cement from fill dilution affect metallurgical mine are included in this list. The systems are then assessed
recoveries? economically using discounted cash flow techniques and using
long term or life of mine time scales. Tangible environmental
• Is cyanide an issue?
factors are readily included at this phase of the analysis.
The answers to some of these questions can have a significant
The mining systems with backfill are then ranked in terms of
impact on the mining method selection and this cycle of mining
technical feasibility and economic desirability. These are
method and backfill type design can iterate a number of times
compared to the base case and the change in project net present
to determine possible options.
value can be used as the major economic indicator. In a recent
study conducted by the author an older mine, which was
The primary source of backfill materials will be local to the
considering backfill to improve ground conditions,
mine. As this summit attests, the tailings from the processing of
demonstrated an increased value by the introduction of backfill.
ore are the most readily available source of backfill materials.
This was despite the increased operating cost since backfill
Placement as backfill will directly offset disposal costs and will
permitted sill pillar recovery and extended the life of the mine
have environmental credits that are frequently intangible within
and cashflow by an additional 6 to 9 months.
our current costing and accounting systems. Understanding the
characteristics of the tailings material such as sizing,
mineralogical composition, rheology and reactivity are Bulk and Exposable Backfills
important numbers of which we will hear much discussion
during this summit. There are several ways of classifying backfills, both by type
and by function. An essential distinction from the design point
Open cut operations move considerable quantities of waste of view is whether the backfill is to be used essentially as void
rock. Will that rock be suitable for use as an aggregate in filler or will it be exposed by future mining of ore pillars. Prior
backfill? The Australian experience would be that much of the to the advent of paste backfill systems this classification could
weathered surface rock in this country is unsuitable, but fresh be described as cemented or uncemented. However, paste needs
or marginally weathered material is frequently acceptable. The small quantities of cement in all backfill placed to eliminate the
underground development operations, by contrast, produce risk of liquefaction, therefore this classification is no longer
large volumes of fresh broken rock, much of which is suitable appropriate. A preferred classification is given below:
for backfill use.
Bulk Backfill
Surface sand is a valuable resource for backfill use. Waste materials placed into a stope for the purpose of disposal
Prestripping operations to prepare for surface infrastructure, the and or to provide confinement to surrounding rock walls. The
pit, waste dumps and even the tailings dams themselves can upper surface can be used as a working platform. Resistance to
yield useful quantities of material. This can be used directly as rock wall closure effected by intergranular friction of the
backfill material such as the proposed use at NFM’s Callie backfill.
Mine where the initial sand will be sourced ahead of the waste
rock dumps. In Canada, the use of alluvial and glacial sands is Exposable Backfill
common in pastefill systems to improve both the economics
and the performance. Engineered materials with cement and or other binder added
which has sufficient cohesion to support its self weight when
The primary external component of backfill will be the cement exposed either as a vertical face or in an overhang by the
binder. The uncompetitive cost of domestic cement supplies blasting of adjacent pillar ore.
and the transport distances involved result in cement costs
representing over one half of the total cost of backfill systems. Cement and Other Binders
There has been continual research into alternative binders such
as pozzolans to minimise this cost. Mount Isa has used ground The strength of particulate materials is generated by
copper furnace slag since the early seventies and Olympic Dam intergranular friction with little or no cohesion present.
uses fly ash. In Canada, iron blast furnace slags are widely Sometimes, water tension in unsaturated conditions can
used. generate an apparent cohesion. That’s why wet sand works
better for sandcastles than dry sand. Since we can’t control
For each of the backfill materials, various process and transport water content to such a fine degree then other binders must be
methods are available. Each of these should be considered in added to provide the cohesion and increase the strength of the
turn. For example, Olympic Dam deslimes the neutralised mill material.
tailings, raises the density of the slurry, adds binder and crushed
aggregate in a pugmill. The resultant mix is then transported in By far the commonest binder that is added to backfill is OPC –
30 tonne end tipper trucks and dropped into vertical boreholes GP Grade. Typical addition rates up to 6% by weight are added
drilled from surface to each stope below at 400 metres depth. into hydraulic fill and 4.5 to 5% by weight into paste fill and
Scuddles Mine in WA deslimes the tailings and then delivers rock fills. The cemented rock fills which utilise hydraulic fill as
the high density slurry by gravity pipeline to the underground the source of fines are the most efficient consumers of cement
workings. When the backfill system is running the slimes and total addition rates as low as 2% can be used.
fraction is sent to the tailings dam and during down times, the
full mill tailings go to the dam. These addition rates generate cohesion values of around 250 to
500kPa and unconfined compressive strengths from 0.75 to

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Underground Mining with Backfill

4MPa. These strengths are sufficient to enable the backfill to be Slurry density is greater than 70%Cw (solids by weight). The
exposed in vertical walls up to 40 metres wide and virtually high density minimises the drainage of transport water. The
unlimited in height. target density is a function of particle specific gravity and the
controlling parameter is %Cv (solids by volume) which balances
The cost of cement can represent more than half of the the requirement to transport the slurry without plugging the line
operating cost of the backfill system. There has been and excess drainage water. The practical range is between
continuous research around the world into alternative binders 45%Cv and 50%Cv.
and the most common solution has been the use of pozzolans
such as fly ash and blast furnace slags. Hydraulic backfill slurries are transported by gravity through
boreholes and pipelines to the stopes. The slurry enters the
OPC is a hydraulic cement, which means that it reacts with stope and the solid particles consolidate rapidly. The excess
water alone to form the cement binding alumino-silicate transport water in the slurry will initially pond above the
products. Pozzolans, by contrast, require the presence of lime in current solids layer, but under the influence of gravity will
addition to the water for the cementing reaction to proceed. The commence on a generally vertical drainage path downwards.
lime is usually generated as a by-product of the initial hydraulic The rate of drainage is a function of the permeability of the
cement reaction. backfill and the driving head. The quantity of water that will
drain is a function of the initial slurry density and the residual
Mount Isa uses ground copper furnace slag to replace half of moisture content of the backfill. The quantity of drainage
the cement in backfill and has saved over 25,000 tonnes of resulting from slurry densities of around 70%Cw is as little as a
cement annually as a result. Olympic Dam utilises flyash from quarter of the drainage resulting from 55%Cw slurries.
Port Augusta.
Free draining hydraulic backfill has a typical porosity of around
More recently, synthesised hydrophilic alumino-silicates have 50%, can be walked on in a few hours and is trafficable within
been developed in China11. These complex binders are capable 24 hours.
of taking up 32 molecules of water per binder molecule and
have been demonstrated to solidify tailings slurries of around Where the hydraulic fill is to be exposed, cement addition rates
50%Cw with only low addition rates. These binders are currently of around 6% are typically required and this will result in
not commercially viable. unconfined compressive strengths of greater than 750kPa
within 28 days. Higher strengths and faster curing can be
Gypsum has been tested as an alternate binder with limited achieved by adding extra cement.
success (Petrolito et al, 199812). Gypsum is being used for pillar
replacement in small gold mine applications. At Mount Isa cemented hydraulic backfill consisting of 3%
OPC, 6% ground furnace slag (to produce 6% equivalent
Backfill Types and Materials cement) and 91% deslimed tails are routinely exposed over
widths of 40 metres and over 100 metres high.
The three backfill types that will be discussed are:
The primary advantage of hydraulic backfill is the simplicity
Hydraulic backfill and low cost of production and delivery. Uncemented hydraulic
backfill can be placed for less than $2 per cubic metre.
Deslimed mill tailings slurries, with densities raised to over Increasing strength is a simple matter of adding cement.
70%Cw (solids by weight). The coarser fractions are placed
underground as hydraulic backfill and the slimes rejected to the There are two significant disadvantages to hydraulic backfill.
surface dam. The first is that permeable barricades must be designed and
constructed to retain the backfill and permit the free drainage of
Paste backfill excess transport water. Barricades are commonly built with
Total mill tailings filtered or thickened to around 80%Cw to porous concrete bricks and take a two man crew between 2 to 3
which cement and water is then added to achieve the required shifts to complete. This occurs as a critical path activity
rheological and strength characteristics. Any rejects to the dam between the completion of production in a stope and the
are at the full tailings sizing range. commencement of filling.
The second disadvantage is the management of water in the fill
Rock backfill and the requirement to pump this water out of the mine. When
controls on slurry density are lax, excessive water can result in
Waste rock from surface or underground and crushed to a
ponding of water in the stopes, which can lead to the
typical top size of around 40mm. This can be placed as is or
development of erosion pipes and cause barricade failure. In
with cemented hydraulic backfill slurry or cement water slurry.
calendar 1997, there were nine such incidents; in 1998 there
have been none reported. The risk of barricade failure and the
Hydraulic Backfill consequences of a backfill inrush are a serious safety issue that
requires management focus to ensure that the risk factors are
Hydraulic backfill is produced by cycloning of mill tailings managed. The guidelines of fines removal and placement at
slurries to produce a coarse dense underflow. Typical high slurry densities eliminate those risk factors.
specifications of hydraulic backfill are:
Cemented Rock Backfill - with Hydraulic
Not more than 10% by weight of size fraction less than 10µ
(micrometres) in size. This ensures that acceptable permeability Backfill
of the placed fill is achieved.
The performance of cemented hydraulic backfill can be
improved by the addition of crushed rock at high proportions.

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Underground Mining with Backfill

The cemented rock backfill used in the Mount Isa copper exceed 5MPa. Early systems used high pressure reciprocating
orebody includes quarried siltstone crushed to minus 75mm pumps but experience has shown that paste fill can be readily
size to the hydraulic fill at the rate of two parts of rock to one by transported by gravity alone, provided that the reticulation
part of hydraulic fill. The resultant mix is 1% OPC, 2% CRFS, geometry is favourable.
30% hydraulic fill and 66% rockfill. This mixture develops
strengths of around 1.5MPa in 28 days and can be exposed in The higher slurry densities improve the water to cement ratios
large exposures and on several sides in succession. and for a given tonnage of pastefill, lesser quantities of cement
are required to achieve comparable strengths to hydraulic
The advantage of the rock addition is that it trebles the tonnage backfill. This has obvious operating cost benefits.
rate of filling (doubling the volumetric rate), increases the
strength and performance and reduces equivalent cement The higher density and reduced permeability due to the
consumption to below 2% by weight. Instantaneous backfill inclusion of fines also results in negligible water drainage from
rate at Mount Isa is around 350m3 per hour. the paste fill. The need for engineered barricades is removed
and the nuisance of drainage water and impact on ventilation is
Olympic Dam uses higher cement and flyash proportions and eliminated.
delivers at a higher slurry density than Mount Isa. Strengths in
excess of 4MPa are routinely achieved. The new expanded Typically, backfill systems have utilisation rates of between
backfill system to meet the needs of the larger mining operation 66% and 75% which results in paste being deposited into the
is designed to place cemented rock backfill at the rate of 300m3 surface dams during down periods. The material placed in the
per hour. dams from a pastefill system has improved particle sized
distribution over the slimes generated by hydraulic backfill
Bronzewing in WA is just commissioning a cemented rock systems and improved geotechnical properties.
backfill system with a rate capability of around 100m3 per hour.
There are a number of disadvantages to paste backfill systems
Cemented Rock Backfill - PC Slurry and these relate to the higher capital cost primarily attributable
to the expensive filter dewatering systems and the complexity
A variation on cemented rock backfill, widely used in Canada, of operations and supervision required to ensure that line
utilises crushed waste rock and Portland cement slurry added at plugging does not occur.
rates of around 5% by weight. No mill tailings are used and
consequently the overall sizing curve is short on fines content. Because of the inclusion of the slimes fraction and the non
This reduces the workability of the placed backfill and draining nature of the backfill, cement must be added to all
necessitates the higher cement addition rates for equivalent pastefill placed underground including the fill that will not be
strength performance. This technique has been used at the exposed by subsequent mining. Adding cement at around 1.5%
Williams Mine in Ontario and the initial temporary filling at by weight will eliminate the risk of liquefaction. This aspect
Bronzewing has employed a surface batching plant to produce places a significant operating cost penalty to the use of paste fill
this type of backfill. compared to hydraulic fill which due to its free draining nature
can be readily be placed in uncemented forms. In mines, which
have high proportions of cemented backfill such as open
Total Tails - Paste Backfill stoping, the disadvantage is minimal. In mining methods such
as cut and fill where the use of exposed fill is minimal, the
Total tailings – paste backfills were developed originally by penalty is large.
Preussag in Germany and utilised at the Bad Grund Mine in the
late seventies. Development in South Africa and more Another problem with paste backfill is the incorrect perception
intensively by INCO in Canada substantially refined the that ALL tailings can be returned underground. Pastefill tends
system. The first paste backfill system in Australia was to have a lower porosity ranging from between 35% and 50%Cw
installed at Elura mine in NSW in the mid 1980’s but this was compared to between 40% and 55%Cw for hydraulic backfill.
not successful. More recently, Henty Mine in Tasmania This means that slightly more pastefill can be returned
commissioned a 10 to 15m3 per hour paste system and underground than hydraulic fill but the difference is marginal.
Cannington in Queensland is now running a 100m3 per hour As the porosity values show it is unlikely that there will be
system. Mount Isa is constructing a 300m3 per hour hybrid sufficient ore removal or void underground to place all of the
plant for the Enterprise Copper Mine capable of delivering a fill back underground.
high density uncemented hydraulic fill or cemented paste
backfill. A recent exercise was conducted to compare the options of
placing all pastefill back underground compared to surface
Paste backfill consists of the full size fraction of the tailings storage. It was shown that for this operation there was an excess
stream prepared at a high slurry density. The slurry behaves as mine volume of 46% which would have to be created to store
a non-Newtonian fluid, which means that it requires an applied the paste. The cost of mining this additional volume far
force to commence flowing. An example of a Non-Newtonian outweighed the cost of surface disposal and subsequent
fluid that is in common use is toothpaste and the applied force rehabilitation.
(yield stress) explains why you have to squeeze the toothpaste
out of the tube. The paste has a higher viscosity than hydraulic
backfill and exhibits plug flow when transported in a pipe. The Conclusions
outer portions of the slurry shear against the sidewall of the
pipe and the central core travels as a plug. Backfill is an increasingly important component of
underground mining operations. As mines get deeper, the need
The friction factors generated require that high-pressure for improved ground control and maximised resource recovery
pipelines are used to transport pastefill. Pressures typically is essential to their safe and economic operation. The total

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Underground Mining with Backfill

management of waste materials at the mine site needs to be 5. Villaescusa, E and Kuganathan, K 1998 Backfill for
engineered into the design of the mine. Increasingly, Bench Stoping Operations, Minefill 98, AusIMM,
environmental considerations are showing that improved waste April 14-16 1998, Brisbane
management procedures have benefits to the mining operations.
6. Leahy, F and Cowling R 1978. Stope Fill
Regulators are increasingly requiring the prior planning of final
Development at Mount Isa, Mining with Backfill,
site restoration as part of the initial mine plan.
12th Canadian Rock Mechanics Symposium, CIM
Special Volume 19, Sudbury, Ontario May 23-25,
Mining with backfill technology helps mining companies
1978
achieve many of these goals. Backfill minimises the total
quantities of materials to be managed on surface. The waste 7. Bloss, M L 1996. Evolution of Cemented Rock Fill at
materials can be engineered to give support and strength Mount Isa Mines Limited, Mineral Resources
properties that improve the safety of the mining operations and Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1996), 23-43, Imperial
the economics of the enterprise. College Press
8. Palarski, J 1993 The Use of Fly-ash, Tailings, Rock
The technology of backfilling enables a wide range of
and Binding agents as Consolidated Backfill for Coal
engineering solutions to particular mine sites and their unique
Mines, Minefill 93, SAIMM, Johannesburg 1993
sets of problems and opportunities. There is not one universal
solution to backfill or mine tailings disposal systems. 9. BFP 1997. Improved Recovery in Highwall Mining
Using Backfill, ACARP Project C3052, Australian
AMC predicts that there will be many more developments yet Coal Research Limited.
to be seen in this rapidly emerging area of technology. 10. Lane C 1998. Reducing Capital and Operating Costs
by Using Inpit Tailings Disposal: Marymia Gold
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Special Volume 19, Sudbury, Ontario May 23-25, Solidifying Material as Backfill Binder and its
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2. Nantel, J 1998. Recent Developments and Trends in April 14-16 1998, Brisbane
Backfill Practices in Canada, Minefill 98, AusIMM, 12. Petrolito J, Anderson R M and Pigdon S P 1998. The
April 14-16 1998, Brisbane Strength of Backfills Stabilised with Calcined
3. McGurk, T J and Lock P R 1998. Maximising Gypsum, Minefill 98, AusIMM, April 14-16 1998,
Recovery at Silver Swan Nickel Mine using Cement Brisbane
Stabilisation, Minefill 98, AusIMM, April 14-16
1998, Brisbane
4. Henderson A, Jardine G and Woodall C 1998. The
Implementation of Paste Fill at the Henty Gold Mine,
Minefill 98, AusIMM, April 14-16 1998, Brisbane

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