APPLYING SOIL MECHANICS PRINCIPLES

TO TAILINGS DEWATERING,
DENSIFICATION AND STRENGTHENING

David Williams

TAILINGS AND MINE WASTE 2014

 Conference Sponsors
AMEC Earth & Environmental Knight Pisold and Co.
Ausenco MWH
BASF Chemical MineBridge Software, Inc.
CETCO Paterson & Cooke
ConeTec Robertson GeoConsultants, Inc.
DOWL HKM SRK Consulting, Inc.
Engineering Analytics, Inc. Tetra Tech, Inc.
Gannett Fleming URS
Golder Associates, Inc. Community Sponsor
CDM Smith

TAILINGS AND MINE WASTE 2014

 Overview
Water recovery from tailings is most efficiently
achieved in-plant, but this must be balanced
against efficient management of tailings disposal
and cost
Densification and strengthening of tailings is best
achieved by depositing them in thin layers and
allowing time for consolidation and desiccation
This can be assisted by amphirolling to drain
surface water down tailings beach and increase
surface area exposed to desiccation, and by
subsequent dozing to compact tailings
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Constraints under which TSFs Must
Operate
Climatic and topographic setting of TSF
Processing plant tailings production rates
Manage supernatant tailings water
Meet discharge water quality
Maximise tailings settled dry density
Rehabilitate TSF on closure to ensure stability,
minimise environmental impacts, and achieve
some post-closure land use / function
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 Good Tailings Management

Spigotting in thin lifts

Maintaining a small decant pond

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 Good Tailings Management
To achieve optimal water recovery and tailings
dry density
Which will minimise required TSF wall raises
Possibly allow upstream wall raising on
tailings, potentially using tailings to construct
raise
Will facilitate closure

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 Operational Tailings Water Balance

Rainfall Evaporation from

ponded water and
Tailings input wet tailings

Seepage
recovery
Phreatic surface Stored wet tailings Decant

Wall seepage
Foundation seepage
Groundwater mounding
Original groundwater table

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Operational Tailings Water Balance
TW + RR + WW = RW + EW + SE + SF + SW
TW = tailings input water
RR = TSF catchment rainfall and runoff
WW = net waste water
RW = water recycled to plant
EW = entrained water
SE = surface evaporation
SF = seepage into foundation
SW = seepage through wall

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Operational Tailings Water Balance
Best-known water volumes are initial % Solids,
rainfall, and evaporation from ponded water
Water volumes that can be determined
include entrained water, runoff, input and
storage of waste water, and evaporation from
wet, desiccating and dry tailings
Water volumes that are least well-known are
seepage into TSF foundation and through wall

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Operational Tailings Water Balance
An Australian Example
Average annual rainfall = 845 mm (range 308
to 1,542 mm, since 1994)
Highest daily rainfall recorded = 272 mm (and
776 mm over 3 days)
Water discharged into TSF ~5 times rainfall
Pumping capacity ~20 mm/day, of which
return water accounts for ~15 mm/day
Leaving ~5 mm/day in reserve for rainfall
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 Tailings Continuum
(Davies, 2004) Slurry-like:
Tailings slurry No particle/particle
Complex water management (typically segregating) interaction
Inefficient water recovery Saturated
Containment required
Seepage likely No effective stress
Thickened tailings
Rehabilitation difficult (dewatered, ideally non-segregating)
C
Likely low OpEx and CapEx,
O
but high rehabilitation cost Paste tailings Pumpable N
(Dewatered, ideally non-bleeding)
T
I
Simple water management Non-pumpable N
Efficient water recovery U
Process chamical recovery U
Minimal containment required "Wet" filter cake Soil-like: M
Negligible seepage losses (near-saturated) Particle/particle
Progressive rehab. possible
Stable tailings mass interaction
"Dry" filter cake
Effective stresses
High OpEx and CapEx, (85 to 70% saturated) and suction
but low rehabilitation cost Shear strength

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 Consistency of Tailings

High density slurry High slump paste Low slump paste

Centrifuged (wet cake) Filtered (dry cake)

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 Transporting Filtered Tailings

By truck

By conveyor and stacking

TAILINGS AND MINE WASTE

13 2014 13
CRICOS Provider No 00025B
In-Plant Recovery of Tailings Water
THICKENING NOTES
Conventional ~25% Solids for coal tailings and red mud
and high rate 40-50% Solids for metalliferous tailings
Transportable by centrifugal pumping
Beaching at ~1%
High Higher % Solids
compression Just pumpable by centrifugal pumps
thickening Beaching at up to 5%
Paste Raises % Solids to between 45% (red mud) and 75% Solids
thickening (metalliferous)
Requiring transport by expensive diaphragm or positive
displacement pumps
Consistency of toothpaste
Requiring considerable management
Centrifuging Solid-like
and filtration Potentially transportable by conveyor or truck

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 Water Recovery from TSF
Generally limited to recovery of supernatant
water, plus seepage through wall
Other tailings water is lost to:
Entrainment within tailings
Evaporation from decant pond and wet tailings
Seepage into foundation
In order to maximise recovery of supernatant
water:
Direct supernatant water to decant pond
Minimise size of decant pond and rapid recovery
Maintain decant pumps and water return pipelines
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Post-Closure Tailings Water
Balance and Quality

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Post-Closure Tailings Water
Balance and Quality
RR = SO + EW + SE + SF + SW
RR = TSF catchment rainfall and runoff
SO = spillway overflows
EW = entrained water
SE = surface evaporation
SF = seepage into foundation
SW = seepage through wall

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 Downstream vs. Upstream TSF
Wall Raising
Typically, TSF walls initially constructed as
starter dams using borrow material
Wall raising can be:
Downstream using borrow material
Upstream partially on desiccated tailings using
borrow material and/or tailings, if suitable
2 m high upstream raise

2 m downstream
wall raise

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Upstream Wall Raising using
Tailings

Harvesting tailings Moisture-conditioning

Compacting tailings Completed raise

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 Excessive Wall Settlement due to
Borrow Pit being Infilled with Slimes

Failure

Resulting kink

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Amphibious Excavator, Amphirol
and D6 Swamp Dozer

Amphibious Excavator

D6 Swamp Dozer

Parked Amphirol

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 Principles of Farming Tailings by
Amphirol
In good weather in a dry climate, farming can
be achieved in a month-long cycle
Amphirols exert 3 to 5 kPa bearing pressure
(c.f. ~35 kPa for a D6 Swamp Dozer)
Some surface drying and strengthening is
required to allow safe and efficient amphirol
operation
Too heavy a bearing pressure and/or too soft a
tailings surface leads to bogging
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 Principles of Farming Tailings by
Amphirol
An amphirol should:
Essentially float on lightly desiccated surface
Create trenches down beach to facilitate surface
drainage
Maximise surface area exposed to evaporation
and strengthening
Expose un-desiccated tailings on further farming
An amphirol should not over-shear tailings by
repeated farming, ~4 passes is optimal

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Amphirols Dont Float!

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Subsequent Farming by D6 Swamp
Dozer
A D6 Swamp Dozer (bearing pressure of ~35 kPa)
can be used once tailings have gained sufficient
shear strength and bearing capacity to safely
support it
A dozer may be used after amphirolling or simply
after tailings has desiccated naturally on exposure
Dozing improves already desiccated tailings by
compaction, leading to a further increase in dry
density and shear strength
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 Schematic Slurried Tailings Shear
Strength Profiles with Depth

Self-weight + Amphirol + Desiccation +2 m Fill

Desiccation and fill are most effective for consolidation and strengthening

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 Safe Fill Height Placed with a D6
Swamp Dozer
Conventional bearing capacity analysis
gives:
H = Nc.sv /F.fill - He ~ 0.143 sv - 1
H = safe fill height (m)
Nc = bearing capacity factor (~5.14 for a strip)
sv = appropriate (vane) shear strength (kPa)
F = appropriate factor safety (perhaps ~2)
fill = unit weight of fill (~18 kN/m3)
He = equivalent height represented by D6 Swamp
Dozer (~1 m)

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Strength Gain due to Fill Placement
Peak shear strength of loaded tailings will
increase as it drains, according to:
= .tan , up to 18 H.tan 30o or 10 H
= Increase in peak shear strength
= Increase in effective stress due to fill loading, up to
fill height H x Unit weight of fill (~18 kN/m3)
= Drained friction angle of tailings ~30o

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 Capping Wet and Dry Tailings

Thin lifts and desiccation to facilitate capping

Hydraulic capping of soft, wet tailings

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 Capping Tailings

Bow-wave failure Bearing capacity failure

Surcharging edge Pushing shallow fill on a broad front

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 Covers over Reactive Tailings

Rainfall Rainfall
Evaporation Evapotranspiration
from ponded water from vegetated surface
Evapotranspiration
from vegetated surface Rainfall runoff

Nominal 1 to 2 m of
loose, rocky soil mulch
Seepage Nominal 1 m of growth medium Seepage
along ~1% slope along ~1% slope Infiltration and storage
Infiltration and storage
Nominal 0.5 m compacted seal, if required Nominal 0.5 m compacted seal, if required

Minor net percolation Construction platform Minor net percolation Construction platform
/capillary break, if required /capillary break, if required

Limited oxygen Limited oxygen

diffusion and diffusion and
PAF or saline tailings net percolation PAF or saline tailings
net percolation

Rainfall-shedding Wet climates Store and release Dry climates

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 Conclusions
Good tailings deposition and tailings water
management can achieve optimal water
recovery and maximise tailings dry density,
which will:
Minimise tailings storage volume required and minimise
wall raises
Possibly allow upstream wall raising on tailings, potentially
using tailings to construct raise
Facilitate closure
Soil mechanics principles underlie dewatering,
densification and strengthening of tailings

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