Process Engineering to

Create Better Tailings Facilities

Robert Cooke
Paterson & Cooke, Denver USA
 Presentation Overview
• Objective
• Discussion of process engineering technologies to
create better tailings facilities in alignment with
the Global Industry Standard on Tailings
Management.
• Contents
• Tailings context
• Global tailings standard
• Tailings technology landscape
• Large tonnage stacked filtered tailings
• Closing comments
 Tailings context

Mount Polley, British Columbia, August 2014 Fundão Dam, Minas Gerais, November 2015 Córrego do Feijão Dam, Minas Gerais, January 2019
 Tailings context

https://www.wise-uranium.org/mdaf.html The largest mines have increased their production, tons milled per day, by an order of
magnitude each 30 years for the past 120 years”
(Andy Robertson, Robertson GeoConsultants 2012)
 Tailings context
Date Location Parent company Ore type Type of Incident Release Impacts

Hpakant, Kachin state, a heap of mining waste collapsed into a lake, triggering a wave of mud and water that buried many
2020, July 2 jade waste heap failure after heavy rain ?
Myanmar workers; at least 126 people were killed

San José de Los Exportaciones de

the tailings spilled on a nearby road and 8,000 m2 of land, reaching the San Bernabé stream after 5
2020, May 1 Manzanos, Canelas, Minerales de Topia lead, zinc tailings dam failure 6,000 m3
km and the town of the same name
Durango, Mexico SA (EMITSA)

Yichun Luming "No. 4 overflow well" [decant tower?]

Mining Co., of the tailings dam tilted, resulting in
Tieli, Yichun City, water and tailings flowed through surrounding area, reaching Yijimi river after 3 km, threatening the
Ltd (subsidiary of molybdenu the release of supernatant water and 2.53
2020, Mar. 28 Heilongjiang Province, drinking water resource of 68,000 people in Tieli City; by Apr. 4, the pollution reached 208 km
state-run China m tailings through a drainage tunnel, million m3
China downstream
Railway Resources while the embankment itself remained
Group Co., Ltd ) intact

https://www.wise-uranium.org/mdaf.html
 GISTM Requirement 3.2
For new tailings facilities, the Operator shall use • For existing tailings facilities, the Operator shall
the knowledge base and undertake a multi- periodically review and refine the tailings
criteria alternatives analysis of all feasible sites, technologies and design, and management
technologies and strategies for tailings strategies to minimize risk and improve
management. The goal of this analysis shall be to: environmental outcomes. An exception applies
(i) select an alternative that minimises risks to to facilities that are demonstrated to be in a
people and the environment throughout the state of safe closure.
tailings facility lifecycle; and
(ii) minimise the volume of tailings and water
placed in external tailings facilities.
This analysis shall be reviewed by the
Independent Tailings Review Board (ITRB) or a
senior independent technical reviewer.
Tailings technology landscape
 Tailings Systems Complementary Technologies

Microwave

Which technologies Filtered

+ 100,000 tpd
Future
High Pressure
Dewatering
Drying

Roll Filtration
and strategies help us Advanced
Environment
al Drying
Chemical
comply with Co-Disposal
Treatments

Ore Sorting
High Capacity
Requirement 3.2? Filtered
≈50,000 tpd
Pressure
Filtration Water
Emerging Treatment
Coarse
Engineered
Particle
Split Tailings
Flotation Conveying
and Stacking
Central and Systems
Distributed
Inline
Deposition
Treatment Coagulants Truck
and Transport
Flocculants
Cyclone Established
Sands Vacuum and Pump and
Practice Pressure Pipeline
Filtration Transport

Filtered
Conventional Thickened High Density Paste Hydro- Gravity
-20,000 tpd Thickening cyclones Launder
Transport

Less water on Tailings as a

Less water in tailings delivered to facility → Mine backfill In-pit disposal
facility product
 Large tonnage stacked filtered tailings
Assuming filtered tailings is mandated, how can we approach this in a cost-
effective manner?
 Design process
Greatest opportunity
for cost reduction

Dewatering Transport Stack

4. Develop the dewatering 3. Establish maximum moisture 2. Define moisture requirement

plant design content for transport to construct a stable stack

1. Understand tailings
variability and facility context
Reducing dewatering costs:
1. Filtration moisture target
Reducing dewatering costs:
2. Environmental drying
 Reducing dewatering costs:
3. New filtration technology
Reduce Costs

Continuous
Competition Larger Filters
Pressure Filtration

18 months 5 years 10 years

 Reducing dewatering costs:
4. Advanced chemical treatments

https://www.neicorporation.com/nanomyte-supercn-plus-durable-superhydrophobic-coatings/
Reducing dewatering costs:
5. Alternate flowsheets
 Closing comments
• The process engineering technology we have today can
create better tailings facilities to comply with the
requirements of the Global Tailings Standard
• The technology will improve, reducing costs in the future
• Society will continue to demand safer tailings facilities which
is largely correlated with lower water content tailings
Thank you for your attention.
Robert Cooke
[email protected]
Mine backfill
In-pit disposal
 Less water on facility

By Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by
Adam Voiland. - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text"
href="http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=84202">Visible
Earth, NASA&lt;/a&gt;, Public Domain, <a
href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35290010">Link</a>
Less water on facility
Tailings as a product