Geotechnical Characterization of an Old Copper

Tailings Impoundment by Using the Cone

Penetration Test and Laboratory Testing
Camilo Morales, Emilia Castillo and Jean Paul Posch
SRK Consulting, Chile

ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a growing interest in reprocessing old tailings storage facilities (TSFs)
for economic, environmental, or social issues. However, a series of geotechnical challenges have
arisen with these projects since large cuttings on loose and saturated tailings are required. Therefore,
tailings' static and dynamic behavior must be fully understood to assure both excavation stability
and workers' safety. In this paper, a comprehensive geotechnical characterization of old copper
tailings is described to evaluate the stability of the excavation in these materials.
The study includes field and lab testing. Regarding field testing, CPTu tests with shear wave velocity
(Vs) measurements were undertaken. These surveys were conducted in two different areas: closer to
the dams and in the center of the impoundment. Emphasis was placed on parameters such as Soil
Behavior Type (SBT) and the State Parameter ( ), computed by a set of empirical calibrations
available in the literature. In addition, special interest receives the validation of undrained strength
correlations since drainage conditions must be assessed before using the undrained properties.
The laboratory tests were carried out in disturbed and undisturbed samples in the same zone of the
CPT tests to define the index properties of the materials and the soil behavior under cyclic and
monotonic shearing. For this purpose, drained and undrained monotonic and cyclic tests were
performed. From the laboratory tests, strength parameters were obtained from the monotonic tests
and the liquefaction cyclic resistance ratio obtained from the cyclic triaxial tests.
The results show that materials in the middle of the pond have a finer Particle Size Distribution (PSD),
smaller shear strength parameters, and a slightly higher tendency towards a contractive behavior.
However, although the material closer to the dams is coarser and exhibits a higher shear strength, its
response is also contractive.

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INTRODUCTION

In recent years there has been a growing interest in reprocessing old tailings for economic,
environmental, or social issues. In fact, old tailings storage facilities may imply significant reserves
of valuable metals in some cases. Although there are more than 600 inactive or abandoned tailings
storage facilities in Chile (Sernageomin, 2020), reprocessing of old tailings has been a slightly
explored alternative. However, the growing local demand to improve production processes, recover
the economic value of mine waste deposits, and reduce environmental and social impacts can be
evaluated as an alternative. The following article presents the results of a comprehensive monotonic
and cyclic characterization campaign of old copper tailings based on field and laboratory tests to
perform the evaluation of the stability of the excavations required for tailings re-mining.

CPT TESTS
Two site investigation surveys were performed on the impoundment (2015 and 2020). Specifically,
five and seven CPTu tests were performed in each site investigation survey, respectively. These
surveys were located close to the dams ("dam zone") and in the center of the impoundment where
the pond was located decades ago ("pond zone"). At both places, pore pressures were measured, and
dissipation analyses were performed to estimate the piezometric level and the drainage condition.

Basic Results

The tip resistance (qt), sleeve friction (fs), and pore pressure (u2) are shown in Figure 1 among the
average water table obtained for each location.

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 Figure 1 Basic CPT tests results (a) Dam and (b) Pond area.

Piezometric surface and drainage analysis

For the determination of the piezometric surface, dissipations tests were carried out in addition to
the dynamic pore water pressure (u2) measured by the piezocone. Since this site is no longer in
operation, the assumption of a hydrostatic level was made. The water table inferred from the tests
was consistent with the data from piezometers. Moreover, it was also consistent with CPTs located
relatively closer. From Figure 1, the water table is located approximately 30 m deep at the dam zone,
whereas at the center of the impoundment, the water table was found about 8-9 m deep.
As stated above, different authors (Robertson and Cabal, 2015; Jefferies and Been, 2016) have
proposed correlations to estimate the undrained strength of soils (Su). However, given their empirical
basis, they are limited to specific soil types, usually clays. The validity of the correlations for copper
tailings has been discussed (Jefferies and Been, 2016). However, applying these correlations is also
limited by the saturation degree and the drainage conditions of the material (Robertson, 2013).
Based on this, a drainage analysis based on the Strain Path method (Houlsby and Teh, 1988; Teh and
Houlsby, 1991) is performed to assess the validity of the undrained strength obtained by CPTu
relationships. Hence, the time to achieve the 50% of pore water pressure dissipation (t50) is estimated
from the dissipation tests. In addition, the horizontal coefficient of consolidation is estimated
considering a cone diameter of r=1.78cm, a shear modulus of 65 MPa from shear wave velocity tests,
and a Su=0.15 σ’v0 obtained from the undrained triaxial tests, as Eq. 1 shows.
.
= , = / (1)

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Based on this, Figure 2 (a) presents an example of a dissipation test performed in CPT5 at 27m deep.
In addition, Figure 2 (b) shows the drainage analysis performed by the Strain Path Method for CPT5
to 7, which are located at the pond zone. Based on these results, most of the tailings have a t 50 < 50 s,
suggesting a partial drainage behavior (DeJong & Randolph, 2012).

(a) (b)

Figure 2 (a) Example of a dissipation test and (b) drainage analysis by the Strain Path Method.

Soil behavior

The soil behavior index (Ic) is widely known for its use in soil classification, and it is calculated based
on normalized tip resistance (Q) and sleeve friction (F). Several authors have proposed expressions
to estimate the Ic parameter. In this paper, the methodologies proposed by Been and Jefferies (1992)
and Robertson and Wride (1998) are used. These expressions are shown in Eq. 2 and 3, respectively.

= (3 − ( (1 − ) + 1) ) + (1.5 + 1.3 ( )) (2)

= (3.47 − ( ) ) + (1.22 + ( )) (3)

The main difference between these expressions is that Been and Jefferies (1992) considers the pore
pressure by the Bq parameter, whereas the expression Qp(1-Bq)+1 is proposed by Houlsby (1988).
Jefferies and Been (2016) also suggested that ignoring pore pressures might be crucial in the
characterization of loose sandy silts to silts, typically in tailing deposits.
In the Critical State framework, the liquefaction assessment can be performed through the State
Parameter (Been and Jefferies, 1985). Several authors have proposed empirical correlations between
CPT results and the State Parameter (Jefferies and Been, 2016). Figure 3 shows the soil behavior type

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index and the state parameter for both sites using the Been and Jefferies (1992) and Robertson and
Wride (1998) methodologies.

Figure 3 Soil Behavior Type Index (Ic) and State Parameter (ψ) obtained by Plewes et al. (1992) and Robertson
and Wride (1998) methodologies.

LABORATORY TESTS

As part of the geotechnical survey of 2020, disturbed and undisturbed (block) samples were obtained
from the dam and pond zones. This decision was made given the results of CPT data and considering
the tailings filling sequence of the dam, where the spigots were located on the dam's crest top and
given the technology many decades ago; high segregation was expected to take place (Vick, 1983).
The laboratory program included a group of basic tests aiming to quantify the materials' index
properties and triaxial tests, both monotonic and cyclic, to characterize the samples under shearing.

Index properties

Table 1 summarizes the lab results about the index and some state parameters of the soil. Natural dry
density was obtained by the sand cone method, whereas the minimum density was obtained by the
dry method and the maximum density by the standard proctor method. Coarse tailings are classified

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as SM and Fine Tailings as CL. In terms of the gravimetric water content, Fine Tailings have more
water content since they are in the same place where the pond was located. Therefore, these are
tailings close to the saturation, while coarse tailings are about 50% of saturation or less.

Table 1 Index properties of the tested samples.

Natural Gravimetric
Max dry Min dry Specific
Dry Water
Zone Sand Fines USCS density, density, Gravity
density, content,
(t/m ) 3 (t/m )3
Gs (-)
(t/m3) w (%)

Dam 53% 47% SM 1.39-1.48 1.94 1.30 19 2.79

Pond 1% 99% CL 1.30-1.44 1.80 - 44 2.72

Triaxial tests

Monotonic tests

Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the monotonic triaxial test results obtained for the tailings samples from
the dam and pond zone, respectively. On the same Figures, the critical state line is presented among
its slope and the friction angle.
Based on these results, the tailings located close to the dams have higher shear strength than the
tailings located in the middle of the impoundment (pond zone). This difference is about 10% based
on the critical friction angle between both samples. In addition, both samples exhibit a cohesionless
behavior.

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 Figure 4 Monotonic triaxial tests results on tailings samples close to the dam.

Figure 5 Monotonic triaxial tests results on tailings samples at the center of the impoundment.

Cyclic tests
Figure 6 shows the cyclic triaxial test results obtained for tailings remolded samples from the dam
and pond area, considering the 5% double amplitude (DA) criteria. The dry density of these samples
was 1.3 and 1.4 t/m3 for the pond and dam zone, respectively. These dry densities were chosen
considering each zone's lowest natural dry densities (see Table 1). It is important to mention that a
CSR of 0.15 was applied to a sample of the Pond Zone. However, liquefaction was not achieved.

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 Figure 6 Cyclic triaxial tests results on tailings samples.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The following are the main conclusions of this study:

● Tailings located close to the dam are coarser than those at the center of the impoundment
due to segregation (spigots were located at the crest of the dam). Indeed, the CPT results
show that tailings located at the pond zone tend to have a lower tip (qt) and sleeve
resistance (fs) as well as a higher pore water pressure generation (u2) than the tailings
located close to the dam. These results suggest a contractive behavior, slightly higher at the
pond zone than the dam zone's tailings. These results were expected, considering the PSD
in both places.
● From dissipation tests analysis, the results obtained by the Strain Path Method (Houlsby
and Teh, 1988; Teh and Houlsby, 1991) suggest that cone penetration is likely partially
drained, hence it was not possible to assess the undrained shear strength from the CPT
tests. This conclusion is supported by Randolph and DeJong (2012) and Robertson (2013),
which suggest an upper limit of t50=50-60s to consider the soil behavior as drained. Thus, it
is important to perform pore pressure dissipation tests to assess the drainage condition to
define if it is appropriate to estimate the undrained shear strength from the CPT tests.
● The methodologies proposed by Been and Jefferies (1992) and Robertson and Wride (1998)
to assess the soil behavior index provide similar results. However, Robertson and Wride
(1998) suggest that tailings behave as a clayey soil at some depths, while Been and Jefferies
(1985) suggest a silty sand behavior. These differences can be explained by considering that
Robertson and Wride (1998) methodology ignores the piezometric data, which it has been
found to be relevant to consider in loose sandy silts (Jefferies and Been, 2016)
● Plewes et al. (1992) and Robertson and Wride (1998) provide similar results in terms of the
state parameter assessment. However, Robertson and Wride methodology estimates a
higher state parameter value, suggesting a higher tendency to generate positive pore
pressures (contractive behavior).

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 ● Both tailings’ samples exhibit a cohesionless behavior from the monotonic triaxial tests
with a higher value of the critical state friction angle at the dam zone than at the pond zone.
This could be explained since tailings are coarser in the dam zone than in the pond zone.
Hence a higher friction angle can be expected. In addition, the stress path suggests that the
transition between contractive and dilative behavior occurs for a dry density of 1.7 t/m3
approximately.
● Regarding the cyclic strength, the tailings from the pond zone have a higher CSR than the
tailings from the dam zone for less than ten cycles. Indeed, it was not possible to achieve
for a CSR of 0.15 on tailings from the pond zone. This situation could be explained by the
fine content that the impoundment tailings have, providing extra resistance against
liquefaction (Jefferies and Been, 2016).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SRK Consulting would like to thank Minera Valle Central for their willingness to perform and share
this research.

REFERENCES
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