Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Experimental study on the overall settling behavior of copper tailings

suspension
Yuan Li ∗, Dirk van Zyl
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, 517 6350 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This study primarily focuses on using experimental approaches to investigate the overall settling behaviors of
Settling behavior different types of copper tailings. With a specially designed experimental apparatus, a series of interruptive
Segregation batch settling tests were carried out to collect samples during the ongoing batch settling test. After measuring
Hindered settling
the solids content and particle size distribution (PSD) of these samples, the segregation and settling behaviors
Copper tailings
of the suspension can be interpreted from the experimental results. This paper highlights that the combined
Batch settling test
Sedimentation
effect of the initial solids content and PSD demonstrates a remarkable influence on the segregation of coarse
particles, leading to various settling behaviors. Notably, changing the initial solids content and PSD conditions
can result in completely different settling modes.

1. Background settling, flocculated settling, hindered settling/zone settling, and com-

Mining has been playing a significant role in the growth of the
global economy for decades. It involves the extraction of valuable
mineral products from ore bodies, which serves as the backbone of
industrial development. During mineral processing, a large volume of
tailings is generated, presenting challenges in terms of effective tailings
management. Dewatering slurry tailings with a thickener to produce
thickened or paste tailings is a common practice in mining industries
to increase the solids content of the tailings and recycle water. The
liquid–solid separation process occurring in a thickener is known as
sedimentation. Other than tailings thickening, the sedimentation phe-
nomenon is commonly observed in the field of tailings management,
including the deposition of tailings slurry into tailings ponds and the
backfill of tailings material in the underground stopes.
2. General introduction of sedimentation
The general settling behavior of a suspension depends on many
factors including local solids content (concentration), state of aggre-
gation and flocculation, particle size, shape and distribution, density
and mineralogy of particles, physical properties of the liquid, as well
as the structure of the sediment (Imai, 1980; Bhatty et al., 1982; Tiller
and Khatib, 1984; Buscall, 1990). Based on the degree of solids content
and particle cohesiveness, the settling behavior of a suspension can be
commonly summarized into four types: discrete particle settling/free
pression settling (Imai, 1980; Lin, 1983; Hanson, 1985). As the initial
solids content increases from low to high, the settling behavior changes
from free settling to compression settling.
The research on the sedimentation of suspensions can be traced back
to a century ago (Coe and Clevenger, 1916). Since the earliest times,
the batch settling test has been employed frequently to investigate the
settling behavior of tailings suspensions (Qin et al., 2021; Zhang et al.,
2017a, 2018; Bonin et al., 2019; Peng et al., 2020; Han et al., 2022).
For the batch settling test, Coe and Clevenger (1916) first divided
the tailings suspension experiencing hindered settling into four zones
spatially along the settling direction. From top to bottom, there are
the supernatant water zone, the zone in which the suspension is at its
initial solids content, the transition zone of different solids content, and
the compression zone. Researchers then obtained identical observations
in the batch settling tests of various materials (Comings et al., 1954;
Michaels and Bolger, 1962; Been, 1980; Imai, 1980). The classification
of the settling zones is comparable with that in some settling modes
interpreted from the well-known Kynch theory (Kynch, 1952). Fig. 1
shows one of the settling modes interpreted from Kynch sedimentation
theory based on a flux curve with one inflection point. The initial solids
content of the suspension, 𝜑1 , is higher than 𝜑𝑁 and lower than 𝜑𝑄
which corresponds to the inflection point (Fig. 1(a)). The settling curve
and the corresponding solids content profiles at four time points are
all included to show the whole settling process and the corresponding
settling zone classification (Fig. 1(c)). More settling modes interpreted

∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yuan.li@ubc.ca (Y. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2024.108580
Received 13 October 2022; Received in revised form 29 October 2023; Accepted 9 January 2024
Available online 19 January 2024
0892-6875/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 1. The settling mode interpreted from Kynch theory.
from the graphical solution of Kynch theory can be found in extensive
literature (Pane, 1985; Concha and Bustos, 1991; Concha and Bürger,
2002; Concha, 2014). It should be stressed here that the original Kynch
theory did not discuss the compression of the sediment, so there is no
compression zone at the bottom.
Strictly speaking, the study of the settling behavior of tailings
materials falls into the category of multi-sized particle suspension
which is also termed polydisperse suspension. In the study of such
suspension, the particles are artificially divided into a finite number
of species based on their size or density (Lockett and Al-Habbooby,
1973; Masliyah, 1979; Mirza and Richardson, 1979; Lockett and Bas-
soon, 1979). The interpretation of the modeling of the suspension
always leads to the formation of zones containing different particles
species and solids content gradient along the settling direction (Mirza
and Richardson, 1979; Kothari, 1981; Greenspan and Ungarish, 1982;
Concha et al., 1992; Bürger et al., 2000; Tory et al., 2003). As the
formation of zones serves as a prominent characteristic of the settling
behavior in multi-size particle suspensions, this type of model will be
termed a zone-formation differential settling model in this paper. For
some fine particle tailings where the size difference is insignificant, the
tailings can be considered equal-sized particles due to the flocculation
of the suspension, whether with or without flocculant. Under these
circumstances, the classical Kynch theory might still be adopted as
an effective tool to account for the settling behavior. McRoberts and
Nixon (1976) studied the sedimentation of different soil suspensions
and concluded that Kynch theory could still be adopted when the
segregation of particles is avoided under certain conditions. This treat-
ment can essentially simplify the question for engineering practice since
handling the differential settling process is way more complicated. Li
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
and van Zyl (2022) examined the differential settling behaviors of
flocculated suspensions from the perspective of segregation. They pro-
posed a concept of critical particle size for the flocculated multi-sized
particle suspension. Under specific initial conditions, particles smaller
than a critical size remain restricted in the suspension and settle as
a whole unit. Conversely, particles larger than the critical size settle
differentially at high velocities, segregating from the suspension during
the initial segregation stage. This discussion highlights the potential
for completely different settling modes or behavior to arise in tailings
suspensions with different initial conditions.
To investigate the general settling behavior of tailings with different
particle size distributions (PSDs), batch settling tests were performed in
this study. Typical settling modes of tailings suspensions were identified
and interpreted from the experimental data. It is desired that the
result presented in this paper can provide insights for the fundamental
understanding of the overall segregation and sedimentation behavior of
tailings slurries and contribute to the literature on the topic of tailings
sedimentation for both research and engineering practice.
3. Experimental program
3.1. Apparatus and methodology
In order to investigate the overall settling behaviors of tailings sus-
pensions, it is necessary to measure the variation of the solids content
(SC) and PSD of the suspension along the settling direction during
sedimentation. There are many available advanced techniques, such as
X-ray, electrical sensing, and excess water pressure measurement, to
monitor the real-time solids content of a suspension in batch settling
Y. Li and D. van Zyl Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580

Table 1
PSD of the three types of testing materials.
Tailings type D10 D50 D90 Finer than 20 Finer than 75
(μm) (μm) (μm) μm μm
Type I 6 37 202 34% 72%
Type II 5 22 75 46% 90%
Type III 6 37 106 33% 77%

Table 2
Summary of the interruptive batch settling tests for three types of tailings.
Material Test no. Initial SC Settling time
W-1-1 to W-1-3 30.0% 5, 15, 30 min
Type I W-2-1 to W-2-3 34.0% 5, 15, 30 min
W-3-1 to W-3-3 42.0% 5, 15, 30 min
O-1-1 to O-1-3 26.0% 5, 30, 60 min
O-2-1 to O-2-3 30.0% 5, 30, 60 min
Type II
O-3-1 to O-3-3 34.0% 5, 30, 60 min
O-4-1 to O-4-2 38.0% 30, 45 min
F-1-1 to F-1-3 30.0% 5, 15, 30 min
Type III
F-2-1 to F-2-3 42.0% 5, 15, 30 min

Fig. 2. The experimental apparatus for batch settling test.

3.3. Experiment design

test (Michaels and Bolger, 1962; Williams et al., 1991; Dankers, 2006;
Zhu et al., 2018; Benn et al., 2018). However, the determination of
the particle size of the materials at certain heights usually involves the
direct sampling of the suspension. In this study, a specially designed
apparatus that can push the suspension out from the settling column
during a batch settling test is used to carry out the sample collection
procedure. Fig. 2 shows a photo of the apparatus. The apparatus
generally consists of settling columns with movable bottoms, a pushing
device, and a collection top piece. The total height and the interior
diameter of the settling column are 36 cm and 5.2 cm, respectively.
When the sample collection procedure starts, the top piece will be
mounted on top of the column, and the suspension will be pushed out in
sequence. A schematic illustration of the sample collection procedure is
shown in Fig. 3. Further tests can be performed on the collected samples
to obtain experimental data such as solids content and PSD.
3.2. Sample preparation
In this study, the conventional and interruptive batch settling tests
were performed for the three types of tailings with different initial
solids contents. The suspensions were prepared by mixing the tail-
ings particles with deionized water to minimize the influence of the
chemical property of the water phase. No flocculant was introduced
in the suspension. The initial solids content for conventional slurry
tailings typically ranges from 20% to 45%, and for this study, it was
selected between 26% and 42%. Conventional batch settling tests were
first conducted to obtain full settling curves (Refer to Fig. 1(b)). In
the interruptive batch settling tests, the suspension was first allowed
to settle for a certain duration, after which the sample collection
procedure was conducted by extracting suspension layers at different
heights from the settling column. A summary of the interruptive tests
is included in Table 2. The solids content and PSD of these collected
samples were determined. Part of the data of the whole copper tailings
has been reported by Li and van Zyl (2022, 2023).

A copper tailings collected from a mine in Canada is adopted as
the testing material as it contains particles of a wide range of sizes.
The specific gravity of the solid particle was determined to be 2.72.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) test was employed to determine the mineral
composition of this material, and the results are illustrated in Fig. 4.
To investigate the influence of particle size on the settling behavior,
three types of tailings with different PSDs were prepared:
• Type I: Original whole copper tailings
• Type II: Cyclone overflow of the copper tailings
• Type III: Fine copper tailings passing the No. 150 sieve (mesh size
106 μm)
The initial cumulative PSD and differential PSD curves of these three
types of materials are plotted in Fig. 5, and some details can be found
in Table 1. A comparison of the PSDs of Type III tailings with those of
Type I and Type II tailings reveals interesting observations. The PSD
curves of the Type III and Type I tailings are highly consistent in the
range of 0 to around 40 μm. Both have identical D10 and D50 values
and even contain comparable percentages of fine particles. However,
the Type I tailings differ from Type III tailings in that it contains some
extremely large particles (larger than 106 μm), which are absent from
the Type III tailings. Essentially, the particle size range of Type III
tailings matches that of Type I tailings, but with a higher proportion
of coarse particles.
4. Experimental results and discussion
4.1. Experimental results of Type I tailings
4.1.1. Overall settling curve
The settling curves of the Type I tailings, which show the time
evolution of the position of the supernatant-suspension interface, are
illustrated in Fig. 6. The shapes of the settling curves of the suspensions
with different initial solids contents look all similar. Two main phases
divided by a critical time point (See Fig. 6) can be easily distinguished
from the curves. In the first phase, the interface between the super-
natant and the suspension dropped at an approximately constant and
rapid velocity before reaching the critical time point. The hindered
settling of the suspended particles beneath the interface dominated
the movement of the interface. Simultaneously, a sediment layer was
forming at the bottom of the settling column. As the upper boundary
of the sediment zone rose, it eventually encountered the supernatant-
suspension interface at the critical time point, marking the beginning
of the second phase. Within the sediment, the particles were closely
packed, forming a solid skeleton as they stacked on top of one another.
Effective stress can also be observed within the sediment. Further set-
tling took place as the water in the voids was expelled, and the sediment
structure was compressed (McRoberts and Nixon, 1976; Dankers and
Winterwerp, 2007; Zhang et al., 2017b; Bonin et al., 2019). As the

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Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 3. Illustration of the sample collection procedure (Li and van Zyl, 2023).
Fig. 4. XRD results of copper tailings.
Fig. 5. Original PSD of the three types of copper tailings.
compression settling process was slow, the velocity of the interface in
the second phase decreased significantly, resulting in a flatter curve
compared to the first phase. The overall shape of the settling curve of
the tailings suspension is comparable with the prediction of Kynch the-
ory except that the second phase is not horizontal due to compression
settling (See Fig. 1(b)). As already discussed by Li and van Zyl (2023),
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
Fig. 6. Settling curves of the Type I tailings.
there was initial segregation of coarse particles in the sedimentation of
the Type I tailings. The direct use of Kynch theory to account for the
overall settling behavior of this suspension is not suggested.
The plot of the Type I tailings in Fig. 6 shows a clear trend that the
dropping velocity of the interface in the first phase decreases with in-
creasing solids content. This phenomenon agrees with all the available
empirical and semi-empirical settling velocity functions which nega-
tively correlate the settling velocity of the suspension to the local solids
content. As the solids content increases, the particle–particle interaction
in the settling zone is therefore increased. This interaction can hinder
the movement of the particles in the suspension. Consequently, the
descent velocity of the interface is decreased accordingly.
4.1.2. Solids content profile
The solids content profiles of the Type I tailings, which reflect the
variation of the local solids content with height and time, are plotted in
Fig. 7. In the profiles of the Type I tailings, at least three zones can be
clearly distinguished: the supernatant zone, the hindered settling zone,
and the sediment zone. Due to the initial segregation of the coarse
particles contained in the Type I tailings, the solids content is much
smaller than the initial solids content value in the hindered settling
zone. At the bottom layers of the settling column, the solids content is
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 7. Solids content profiles of Type I tailings. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
extremely large, as indicated by the light blue area in Fig. 7. It is also
noticed that the solids contents of these bottom layers remain constant
throughout the duration of all these tests, without any noticeable
changes over time. This is attributed to the accumulation of coarse
particles at the base, which creates a skeletal structure through direct
particle contact. The compression of this structure is minimal and can
hardly be detected.
A more detailed examination of the solids content profiles in Fig. 7
reveals the presence of a compression zone in the upper region of
the sediment zone. However, the transition zone reflected in Kynch
theory cannot be distinguished in this particular case. Therefore, the
term ‘‘compression zone’’ is adopted to describe the region where the
solids content changes dramatically with depth. The boundary between
the compression zone and the hindered settling zone appears fuzzy but
still moves upwards gradually during the settling process, as evidenced
by the solids content curves at different settling times. It can be
confirmed that the movement of the supernatant-suspension interface
in the second phase of the settling curve (Fig. 6) is dominated by this
zone. The presence of the sediment layers formed by initial segregation
has minimal impact on the overall settling behavior, except that this
initial segregation phenomenon modifies the properties (solids content
and PSD) of the suspension in the hindered settling zone.
In the upper region of the suspension with an initial solids content
of 42%, a uniform hindered setting zone can be observed following the
initial segregation. As the settling proceeds, the solids content remains
uniform but decreases slightly over time. The continuous segregation
mechanism behind this has been discussed by Li and van Zyl (2022).
This behavior of the settling zone can still be captured in the suspen-
sion with an initial solids content of 34%. However, when the initial
solids content is further decreased to 30%, a noticeable gradient in
solids content becomes apparent in the hindered settling zone. This
comparison is a sign that when the initial solids content of the Type
I tailings falls below 34%, the differential settling behavior becomes
more prominent. Nevertheless, the general pattern of the solids content
profiles of the three suspensions remains consistent. Within the solids
content range of slurry tailings, there is always initial segregation of
coarse particles, which significantly modifies the solids content and PSD
of the suspension. The settling behavior of the particles remaining in
the suspension varies depending on the residual solids content and the
modified PSD resulting from the initial segregation.
If the solids content of the Type I tailings suspension falls below
30%, a fuzzy suspension-supernatant interface and a turbid supernatant
water zone are expected. This occurs because the fine particles are not
fully captured by the flocs in the suspension. In more extreme cases
where a significant portion of the particles are not flocculated, this can
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
result in either discrete settling or flocculent settling. Consequently,
during settling tests, no network structure of flocs is established, and
a distinct suspension-supernatant interface is not visible. Instead, a
gradual transition in color can be observed along the settling direction
due to differences in solids content and PSD gradient.
4.1.3. Cumulative PSD curve and adjusted differential PSD curve
To gain more detailed information on the settling behavior of the
suspension, the PSDs of the samples collected from the interruptive
batch settling tests were measured with Marlven Mastersizer. The
results are first plotted as cumulative PSD curves and illustrated in
Fig. 8. The figure demonstrates extensive particle size segregation
in all suspensions of the Type I tailings. In the sediment, the size
segregation along the settling height was remarkable. The changing
trend of the PSD curves indicates that the samples contain more coarse
particles as the height in the column decreases. The light blue areas
in Fig. 8 represent the PSD envelopes of the sediments formed by
coarse particle segregation. As the settling time increases from 5 min
to 30 min, the envelopes remain unchanged for all three suspensions,
indicating that there was no further sediment compression after the
coarse particle skeleton was established. However, the PSD curves
corresponding to the compression zones exhibit changes over time in
all three sets of tests. For instance, in the W-3 test plot (Fig. 8(g) to
(i)), the curves corresponding to heights from 13 cm to 17 cm vary
with time, indicating the accumulation of segregated particles from
the hindered settling zone. It should be mentioned here that the PSDs
of the samples collected at the height of 1 cm are not measured for
two reasons. Firstly, these samples contain extremely coarse particles
that exceed the device’s maximum size limit. Secondly, the presence of
these large particles could significantly decrease the accuracy of this
measuring technique. In the hindered settling zones, the corresponding
PSD curves remain relatively consistent, although slight segregation
could still be observed when the solids content is low, which is a
reflection of differential settling.
In order to facilitate a comprehensive view of the volume con-
centration variation for each particle species or size, the use of the
original cumulative PSD curve may not be convenient. To address this
limitation, a type of adjusted three-dimensional differential PSD plot
is introduced in Fig. 9 for a more detailed discussion. This type of plot
incorporates the original differential PSD curves and the corresponding
solids content profiles. In this adjusted plot, the vertical axis (volume
(%)) represents the volume percentage of the particles of a particular
size relative to the total volume of the local suspension. The value
is obtained by multiplying the volume percentage of the differential
PSD curve by the corresponding solids volume concentration which is
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 8. Cumulative PSD curves of Type I tailings. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
converted from solids content. By utilizing this plot, it becomes con-
venient to visualize the volume concentration of each particle species
at different heights. This intuitive representation allows for a clear
illustration of the settling and segregation behaviors of the suspension
in batch settling tests.
Furthermore, changes in the volume percentages of all particle
species over time provide valuable insights into the settling and segre-
gation behavior of the suspension. A visual representation of this curve
change pattern is shown in Fig. 10, with the black curve illustrating
an original PSD of a material. If the volume percentages of all particle
species increase proportionally, as illustrated by the blue dashed line,
it indicates an overall increase in the suspension solids content due
to hindered settling of particles or compression of the sediment. The
emergence of a peak in the curve suggests the concentration of particles
with sizes corresponding to that peak in certain layers, resulting from
particle segregation. Specifically, in Fig. 10, the peak on the curve of
the red dashed line indicates the segregation of particles with sizes
between 𝑑1 and 𝑑2 as the volume percentage of these particle species in-
creases exclusively. In Fig. 9, a distinct surge in the volume percentage
on the curve of sediment can be observed clearly near the maximum
size limit. This shape reflects that the sediment at the bottom contains
a tremendous amount of coarse particles with the largest sizes. As the
height in column increases, both the proportion and the general size of
the coarse species (as indicated by the height and position of the peak
in the curve) decrease. This phenomenon indicates that the particle
species of different sizes are concentrated in layers at different heights
within the sediment, demonstrating a segregation process. This process
aligns with the zone-formation differential settling model. At the initial
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
stage, coarse particle species of various sizes settle at different veloc-
ities. The largest particle species accumulates and concentrates in the
first layer at the bottom, being absent in the layers above, following
the principles of the zone differential settling behavior. The second-
largest particle species is concentrated in the second layer above the
first one, and the pattern continues for the remaining particle species. It
should be stressed that the packing patterns of different particle species
may vary, which leads to variation in the solids content. This is the
reason why a solids content gradient along the settling direction in the
sediment is formed by the initial segregation (See Fig. 7). However,
this solids content gradient of the sediment is not well reflected in the
zone-formation differential settling model.
According to the accumulative PSD plots, a sharp change occurs in
the pattern of the PSD curve at a specific height, marking a substantial
reduction in the coarse content. This height corresponds to the position
of the compression zone labeled in Fig. 7. Based on the discussion
presented by Li and van Zyl (2022), there exists a critical particle size
for the initial segregation phenomenon. Only particles of sizes larger
than this critical size participate in the initial segregation process.
Once the segregation of the large particle is completed, the differential
settling process ends. The remaining particle species would settle in a
different manner in which no massive concentration of coarse particles
can be encountered. As a result, there is a significant reduction in solids
content along the settling direction.
The curves associated with the compression zone exhibit two notice-
able variations. Firstly, for most particle sizes, the volume percentages
demonstrate a proportional increase from the 5 min plots (Fig. 9(a), (d),
and (g)) to the 30 min plots (Fig. 9(c), (f), and (i)). This phenomenon
can be attributed to the settling of the suspension, which can be
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 9. Adjusted PSD curves of Type I tailings.
Fig. 10. Two types of curve changing trends. (For interpretation of the references to
color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
analyzed using Kynch theory. Additionally, peaks corresponding to
large particle species emerge on these curves, although it is difficult
to notice them visually from the adjusted differential PSD plot alone.
Fortunately, when the adjusted differential plot is combined with the
cumulative PSD curves depicted in Fig. 8, these subtle variations can be
easily captured. This changing trend confirms the continuous segrega-
tion of particles from the hindered settling zone during the test. Based
on the analysis above, it can be concluded that the increase in solids
content within the compression zone is a result of sedimentation and
continuous segregation. The continuous segregation is also evidenced
by the alterations observed in the curves associated with the hindered
settling zone. Notably, it is obvious that the largest size of the particles
suspended in this hindered settling zone decreases over time. This trend
indicates the continuous segregation and settling of large particles.
4.1.4. Quantitative description of the initial segregation in the sedimentation
of the Type I tailings
To quantitatively describe the initial segregation phenomenon in the
sedimentation of the Type I tailings, a method is introduced in this
thesis to generate the PSD curves of the particles which segregated
from the original suspension in the tests. This method uses the PSD
curve of the original tailings and the PSD curve of the particles left in
the hindered settling zone after segregation as the inputs. The detailed
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 11. Cumulative PSD curves of the segregated particles in test W-3-1.
derivation process is included in Appendix. The final expression of the
function which is used to calculate the cumulative PSD curve of the
segregated particles (𝐹𝑠𝑒𝑔 (𝑥)) is expressed as:
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑖 (𝑥) − 𝑘𝐹𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝 (𝑥)
𝐹𝑠𝑒𝑔 (𝑥) = (1)
1−𝑘
where 𝑥 is the particle size, 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑖 and 𝐹𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝 are the functions of the
cumulative PSD curves of the original material and the suspension
collected from the hindered settling zone after segregation. 𝑘 is a
minimum ratio calculated based on the two curves (See Appendix).
Based on Eq. (1), the PSD curves of the particles segregated from the
original Type I tailings suspension were calculated for test W-3-1 as an
example. The curves are illustrated in Fig. 11 by the ones with markers
(The non-marker curves are the PSDs of the original Type I tailings
and the samples collected from the hindered settling zone in test W-
3-1). According to this figure, the difference between the original PSD
of the Type I tailings and the PSD of the particles left in the hindered
settling zone is due to the segregation of coarse particles. Around 95%
of the particles are coarse particles of sizes larger than a specific size,
as illustrated in Fig. 11. This result implies that particles larger than a
critical particle size had a higher chance to overcome the hindrance of
the suspension and segregate in batch settling test, which agrees with
the segregation mechanism introduced by Li and van Zyl (2022, 2023).
In general, the calculated PSD curve in Fig. 11 quantitatively reflects
the segregation of coarse particles.
4.2. Experimental results of Type II tailings
4.2.1. Overall settling curve
Similar to the discussion on the Type I tailings, the two-phase
classification can also be applied to the suspension with an initial
content of 26% to 34% (See Fig. 12). However, the negative correlation
between the settling velocity and the solids content is not that evident
in this type of tailings. When the solids content increased from 26%
to 30%, a remarkable decrease in settling velocity was detected easily
from the settling curves. Unexpectedly, increasing the solids content
from 30% to 34% did not lead to a further decrease in the settling
velocity. Suppose those widely accepted empirical and semi-empirical
velocity equations which demonstrate a negative correlation between
the settling velocity and the solids content are still valid. In this case, it
necessarily means the local solids content underneath the supernatant-
suspension interface in the 34% suspension was smaller than that in
the 30% suspension. In other words, a different settling behavior was
encountered in the sedimentation of the 34% suspension. It is worth
mentioning that the first phase of the settling curves is not entirely
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Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
Fig. 12. Settling curves of Type II tailings.
linear. The settling velocities of the interface actually increased slightly
with time in the three tests.
When the initial solids content is equal to 38%, the general shape
of the settling curve becomes different. No phase can be distinguished
from the curve. This type of settling curve was observed in the sedimen-
tation of sludge suspensions with high solids concentration (Vanderhas-
selt and Vanrolleghem, 2000). Among the settling modes interpreted
from Kynch theory, there is a mode containing a rarefaction wave
which is generated from the flux curve with one inflection point.
The corresponding settling curve is smooth, and no abrupt change
in settling velocity can be seen on the curve (Concha and Bürger,
2002). However, this type of settling curve still contains a straight line
part. There is another potential explanation that the 38% suspension
is dominated by compression settling. In this case, there should be no
hindered settling zone. The solids content of the suspension should
continuously increase from the initial value along the settling direction.
4.2.2. Solids content profile
In the settling tests of the Type II tailings, the uniform hindered
settling zone with solids content close to the initial value was observed
in the suspensions with solids contents of 26% and 30% (See Fig. 13),
which is comparable with the profiles shown in Fig. 1(c). During
the settling process, the solids content of the settling zone decreased
slightly with time due to the continuous segregation phenomenon but
still remained uniform. The compression zone, marked according to the
30 min curve in Fig. 13, can be well distinguished since there is an
evident change in solids content. The solids content of the compression
zone increases continuously with depth to a maximum value. Even
though the solids content gradients in the compression zones of 26%
and 30% suspensions are different, the maximum values at the bottom
are approximately the same at the 30 min and 60 min settling times.
The upward propagation of the solids content corresponding to the
compression zone is also clearly reflected in the two plots.
An evident increase in the maximum solids content with time
for each suspension can also be learned from Fig. 13. This behavior
is an indication that compression occurred in the sediment during
the test. As mentioned, the compression behavior is not included in
Kynch theory but can be accounted for by adding an additional term
in the continuity equation. Since coarse particles had been removed
from the Type II tailings, no initial segregation was expected in the
sedimentation process. The sediment zone formed by the segregation of
coarse particles, as shown in Fig. 6, is absent in the Type II tailings. If
the initial segregation process is excluded from the analysis, the settling
behavior of the Type I tailings can be considered identical to the Type
II tailings. They both contain a supernatant zone, a hindered settling
zone, and a compression zone.
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 13. Solids content profiles of Type II tailings.
For the suspension with an initial solids content of 34%, there
was a hindered settling zone, but the solids content of this zone was
largely decreased. Unfortunately, the mechanism of the solids content
reduction remains unknown. This deduction should be responsible for
the increase of interface settling velocity when compared with the 30%
suspension. Underneath the settling zone, there was still a zone of
compression, however, the propagation behavior of the solids content
is not clear. Since an abrupt decrease in the interface settling velocity
shows up on the settling curve, the compression zone is believed to
encounter the interface at the critical time point. The solids content
profile of the 38% suspension shows that there is no hindered settling
zone during the sedimentation of this suspension. Therefore, it is
confirmed that the compression settling dominated the overall settling
behavior of the suspension when the initial solids content reached 38%
for the Type II tailings.
9
Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
4.2.3. Cumulative PSD curve and adjusted differential PSD curve
The PSD analysis was performed on the 26%, 30%, and 34% suspen-
sions. Without the initial segregation of coarse particles, the cumulative
PSD curves of Type II tailings are consistent for each suspension (See
Fig. 14). A slight variation of the PSD curves can be observed in
the 26% suspension, indicating a more evident continuous segregation
phenomenon compared with the 30% suspension. In the suspensions
with an initial solids content of 30% and 34%, the continuous seg-
regation was relatively suppressed. The adjusted differential PSD plot
of the suspensions directly shows that the volume concentration of
all particle species in the compression zone increased proportionally
during the test due to compression settling (Fig. 15). The influence of
the continuous segregation is not very clear. The differential PSD plot
of the 34% suspension also confirms that the solids content deduction
in the hindered settling zone was not caused by any type of segregation.
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. 14. Cumulative PSD curves of Type II tailings.
It is recommended that more settling tests on suspensions with solids
contents of a small range at 34% can be carried out to investigate
the changing pattern of the settling behavior. Since it has been con-
firmed that the sedimentation of the 38% suspension was dominated
by compression settling, no PSD analysis was performed on the samples
collected from this group of tests.
4.3. Experimental results of Type III tailings
4.3.1. Settling curve and solids content profile
The shape of the overall settling curve of the Type III tailings in
Fig. 16 is similar to that of the Type I and Type II tailings. Two phases
can still be distinguished, and the settling velocity of the supernatant-
suspension interface decreases when the initial solids content increases
from 30% to 42%.
Even though the settling curves of the two suspensions share the
same shape, two completely different settling behaviors can be in-
terpreted from the patterns of the solids content profiles in Fig. 17.
When the initial solids content was 30%, the solids content profile
demonstrated three zones identical to the Type I tailings. The initial
segregation of coarse particles can be learned from the plot. A fixed
sediment zone is labeled in light blue in the plot. However, when the
initial solids content was increased to 42%, there was no sediment
formed by the segregation of coarse particles, which has more in
common with the Type II tailings. The result of the F-2 test group
suggests that the initial segregation was largely suppressed or avoided
when the initial solids content was equal to 42%. The solids content
of the hindered settling zone in both tests decreased with time. A
remarkable difference in the settling behaviors between the F-2 test
and the Type II tailings is that the solids content of the hindered settling
zone decreased increasingly in the F-2 test during the settling time from
15 min to 30 min. An explanation is given as follows. Based on the
10
Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
initial PSD information in Fig. 5, there is a prominent peak close to the
maximum size limit on the original PSD curve of the Type III tailings.
This peak indicates that the Type III tailings contains a large proportion
of coarse particles with sizes close to the largest size. In the continuous
segregation process, the critical particle size of the hindered settling
zone decreases with time. Suppose the critical particle size at 30 min
is decreased to a value smaller than the size corresponding to the peak
of the PSD curve. In that case, a large number of coarse particles are
expected to have segregated from the hindered settling zone. These
particles account for a higher proportion of the total volume of the
suspension when compared with the Type II tailings. As a result, the
local solids content of the settling zone must decrease accordingly. Due
to the significant difference in settling behaviors, the solids content of
the sediment at the bottom becomes unpredictable. The sediment (the
layers formed by segregation) of the 30% suspension has a higher solids
content when compared with the 42% suspension. This observation
was barely reported in the literature. Even though compression of the
sediment can be interpreted from the F-2 test, it is doubted that the
final maximum solids content of the sediment can be increased to the
value of the sediment in the 30% suspension since the packing of the
particles could be different.
It is worth mentioning here that the physicochemistry of the sus-
pension plays a foundational role in investigating settling behavior. The
collective influence of various factors, including particle size, particle
shape, surface chemical properties, suspension solids concentration,
and suspension chemical properties, dictates particle interactions and
particle movement in the suspension during the settling process. It is
important to note that even when the solids content and PSD of the
tailings are identical, modifications to other physicochemical properties
can lead to changes in segregation behavior, settling mode, and settling
velocity within the suspension. For instance, if the physicochemical
Y. Li and D. van Zyl Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580

Fig. 15. Adjusted PSD curves of Type II tailings.

properties of the 30% Type III tailings suspension are modified, the
initial segregation may be avoided or suppressed.
To enable a more straightforward comparison of the experimental
results of the three types of tailings, the key findings associated with
the settling behaviors of these suspensions are summarized in Table 3.
The zone classification in the table denotes the areas in the suspension
where the supernatant is excluded. In addition to the hindered settling
zone and compression zone, the classification includes the zone of
segregation of coarse particles in the three defined zones.

4.3.2. Cumulative PSD curve and adjusted differential PSD curve

The cumulative PSD and the adjusted three-dimensional PSD plots
are illustrated in Figs. 18 and 19. As expected, extensive segrega-
tion of coarse particles can be confirmed in the tests with an initial
solids content of 30% by the variation of the cumulative PSD curves
corresponding to the bottom area. An interesting finding is that the
cumulative PSD curves of the samples below the height of 5 cm are
more similar in shape when compared with those in the tests of the
Type I tailings. The adjusted differential PSD curves also show that Fig. 16. Settling curves of Type III tailings.
these layers contain high contents of coarse particles close in size,
except that the volume concentration of the coarse particles slightly
decreases with increasing height in column. As it is mentioned in the
last section, the Type III tailings contains a large proportion of coarse

11
Y. Li and D. van Zyl Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580

Fig. 17. Solids content profiles of Type III tailings. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Table 3 an incompressible sediment with extremely high solids content was

Summary of the overall settling behaviors for three types of tailings.
established at the bottom of the settling column. Additionally, the solids
Tailings Initial Initial Zone Settling zone description content and PSD of the suspension are greatly modified. However, a
SC segregation classification
hindered settling zone and a compression zone were still observed. The
30.0% Yes Three zones Solids content gradient
settling behavior of this modified suspension is more or less comparable
Type I 34.0% Yes Three zones Continuous segregation
42.0% Yes Three zones Continuous segregation with the settling mode interpreted from Kynch theory, except that the
continuous segregation and compression settling are still involved. It is
26.0% No Two zones Continuous segregation
30.0% No Two zones Continuous segregation learned that the settling of the interface is primarily governed by the
Type II
34.0% No Two zones Low solids content properties of the modified suspension rather than the initial suspension.
38.0% No N/A N/A In the case of the Type II tailings with a solids content ranging
30.0% Yes Three zones Continuous segregation from 26% and 30%, the initial segregation phenomenon was avoided
Type III
42.0% No Two zones Severe continuous segregation since the large particles had been removed. Instead, only a continuous
segregation phenomenon was observed. Moreover, unlike the impact
of the initial segregation observed in the sedimentation of the Type
particles of similar sizes. When the batch settling process starts, all I tailings, the local solids content of the hindered settling zone in
these coarse particles are expected to segregate at a unified velocity and the Type II tailings remained close to the initial value during the
form a thick layer of sediment. Therefore, no apparent classification of batch tests. To some extent, the zones observed in the suspension of
sizes can be seen between the segregated layers in the sediment. the cyclone overflow align with the classic settling zone classification
In the suspension with an initial solids content of 42%, no initial for flocculated suspensions. Therefore, it appears promising to apply
segregation is observed from Fig. 19. The cumulative PSD curves are the well-accepted semi-empirical settling velocity correlations, Kynch
highly consistent at the time points of 5 and 15 min. Slightly segrega- theory, and some other modified versions of Kynch theory to the
tion can be noticed in the test F-2-3. At 30 min, a modification of the analysis of the settling behavior of this type of tailings. The comparison
shapes of the adjusted three-dimensional PSD curves of the hindered of the results between the whole copper tailings and cyclone overflow
settling zone can be observed clearly in the F-2-3 plot (Fig. 19(c) and highlights the importance of the influence of PSD on the overall settling
(f)). Based on these adjusted curves, it is evident that the hindered behaviors. For the Type II tailings suspension with high solids content
settling zone contains fewer coarse particles due to the continuous (over 34%), compression settling becomes dominant.
segregation phenomenon, which agrees with the discussion regarding The results of the Type III tailings emphasize the significance of the
the decrease of the local solids content of the hindered settling zone. combined influence of the solids content and PSD. The settling curves of
The experimental result of the Type III tailings also suggests that the the two suspensions exhibit the same shape, and the two phases can be
details of the PSD of the material have a remarkable influence on the clearly distinguished. However, when the solids content changes from
segregation process of a tailings suspension. 30% to 42%, the settling behavior of the Type III tailings transitions
from the behavior similar to that of the whole copper tailings to
5. Conclusions and recommendations the behavior closer to the cyclone overflow tailings, where the initial
segregation is avoided, and only the continuous segregation can be
Through batch settling tests on three types of copper tailings suspen- detected. Therefore, relying solely on the settling curve is insufficient
sions consisting of particles of different size species, several typical set- in the study of the settling behavior of tailings suspensions. For slurry
tling behaviors have been illustrated in this study. In the sedimentation tailings, completely different settling modes may be encountered within
of the Type I tailings (original whole copper tailings), which contains the same material. Conducting a preliminary assessment of the general
a significant proportion of particles larger than 106 μm (See Fig. 5), settling behavior of tailings material under specific initial conditions
an initial segregation process occurred where some large particles is crucial. In scenarios involving initial segregation, the entire settling
segregated from the suspension. As a result of this initial segregation, process can be treated as an initial segregation process followed by a

12
Y. Li and D. van Zyl Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580

Fig. 18. PSD curves of Type III tailings with an initial solids content of 30%.

Fig. 19. PSD curves of Type III tailings with an initial solids content of 42%.

13
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Fig. A.1. Illustration of material T and the portion classification.
Fig. A.2. PSD curves of material T and portion B.
Kynch settling process, which simplifies the problem to a large extent.
Additionally, the distance between fine particles can be used to explain
the combined influence of solids content and PSD.
The differential settling model could be an alternative to account
for the various settling behaviors of tailings suspension. However, its
applicability strongly depends on the flux function of every particle
species present in the suspensions. Since flocculation is sometimes
observed in tailings containing fines, further studies should examine the
suitability of previously reported constitutive equations in such cases.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yuan Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data cu-
ration, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review &
editing. Dirk van Zyl: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision,
Project administration, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
14
Minerals Engineering 208 (2024) 108580
Appendix. A method to quantitatively assess the alteration of the
PSD curve
To facilitate the quantitative evaluation of the PSD change in a sus-
pension during the settling process, a calculation method is introduced
to perform a quantitative comparison of the PSDs of two materials.
Consider a material T containing particles with a continuous PSD.
For simplicity, four size species are drawn in Fig. A.1 to represent the
material T. This material can be randomly divided into two portions,
A and B, which have different PSDs. We further divide material A into
parts T and C. From Fig. A.1, it can be seen that portion T exhibits the
same PSD as the original material T. However, it is important to note
that portion T may not exist if material A lacks at least one particle
species present in material T. In the derivation, we assume that the
masses of portions B, C, and T contained in the original material T are
represented by 𝑚𝐵 , 𝑚𝐶 , and 𝑚𝑇 , respectively. The total mass of material
T is represented by 𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 . Therefore, there is the following relationship:
𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑚𝐵 + 𝑚𝐶 + 𝑚𝑇 (A.1)
The cumulative PSDs of the materials T, B, and C can be described
by functions 𝐹𝑇 , 𝐹𝐵 , and 𝐹𝐶 with respect to particle size 𝑥. The masses
of particles with a size 𝑥 or within the size range denoted by 𝑑𝑥
(as depicted in Fig. A.2) in the three materials B, C, and T can be
represented by 𝑚𝐵 𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥, 𝑚𝐶 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥, and 𝑚𝑇 𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥, respectively.
Since material T is a mixture of portions B, C, and T, there exists a
relationship expressed by Eq. (A.2) for any particle species of a size 𝑥.
𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 = 𝑚𝐵 𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 + 𝑚𝐶 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 + 𝑚𝑇 𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 (A.2)
Based on Eq. (A.2), Eq. (A.3) can be given:
𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥) 𝑚𝐵 𝑚𝐶 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥)
= + (A.3)
𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥) 𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚𝑇 (𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚𝑇 )𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥)
Since the two terms on the right-hand side of Eq. (A.3) are non-
𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥)
negative, the minimum value of 𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥)
is gained when 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥) = 0. The
physical interpretation of 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥) = 0 is that material C does not contain
particle species of size 𝑥 (For example, material C lacks particles of size
4, as illustrated in Fig. A.1). Given the initial assumption that portion C
contains fewer particle species than the original material T, a value of
𝑥𝑜 can always be found to satisfy Eq. (A.4). In a plot of the differential
𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥𝑜 )
PSD curve, 𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥𝑜 )
also represents the ratio of the volume percentage of
particle spices with a size of 𝑥𝑜 between material T and B.
𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥𝑜 ) 𝑚𝐵
= =𝑘 (A.4)
𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥𝑜 ) 𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚𝑇
Y. Li and D. van Zyl
Rewrite Eq. (A.2) and express the mass of particles within size
interval 𝑑𝑥 of portion C as the difference of such particles contained
in material T and portion B (Eq. (A.5)).
𝑚𝐶 𝐹𝐶′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 = (𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚𝑇 )𝐹𝑇′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥 − 𝑚𝐵 𝐹𝐵′ (𝑥)𝑑𝑥
By integrating both sides of Eq. (A.5), we can obtain an expression
of the function 𝐹𝐶 (𝑥), which is the cumulative PSD curve of material C.
𝐹𝑇 (𝑥)(𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 − 𝑚𝑇 ) − 𝐹𝐵 (𝑥)𝑚𝐵
𝐹𝐶 (𝑥) =
𝑚𝐶
Substituting Eqs. (A.1) and (A.4) to Eq. (A.6), the final expression
of the cumulative PSD curve of material C is generated.
𝐹𝑇 (𝑥) − 𝑘𝐹𝐵 (𝑥)
𝐹𝐶 (𝑥) = (A.7)
1−𝑘
where 𝑘 can be found based on Eq. (A.4). Therefore, with the PSDs of
materials T and B, the cumulative PSD curve of material C can also be
obtained based on Eq. (A.7). In the context of the segregation of tailings
suspension, portion B represents the suspended particles in the settling
zone after segregation, while portion A corresponds to the segregated
particles. If the PSD curves of the original tailings and the suspension
in the hindered settling zone are available, the cumulative PSD of the
segregated particles can be easily generated with this method.
Since the final expression of 𝐹𝐶 (𝑥) (Eq. (A.7)) involves only PSD
curve functions of two materials, this method can also be used in other
scenarios to quantitatively analyze the difference between the PSDs of
two different materials.
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