Study and analysis of water recovery alternatives in

tailings dams
Cristian Riquelme1
SNC-Lavalin, Chile

ABSTRACT
As has been discussed over the last few years, the availability of water resources in mining
processes is decreasing, especially in northern of Chile, a place of extreme aridity where are sited
the most quantity of chilean mines, which added to the phenomenon of climate change and the
great importance of the efficiency of water use and energy resources, has caused that one of the
main objectives of tailings management is focused on recovering the most water portion contained
in the tailings dam.
The main objective of this paper is to carry out a comparative technical-economic analysis
(conceptual) between the different alternatives for the water recovery from tailings dams.
It is expected at the end of this work, to give a clear idea to the mining industry, of the existing
technologies and methods to recovery water from dams, as well as the comparative advantages and
disadvantages of each one of them, making a conceptual economic estimation for a typical case
found in the industry, providing some technical recommendations about the parameters that must
be taken into account at the moment of making a final decision of the water recovery method,
providing key recommendations for the engineering design and sharing the advisor experience
about this topic.

Keywords: water recovery, water in mining, tailings dam

1
Mining & Metallurgy, SNC-Lavalin Chile, Piping Engineer, 5335 Avenida Presidente Riesco P.
Araucano, 8th floor, Santiago, Chile. Phone: +56 2 24312800. Email:
cristian.riquelme@snclavalin.com