Abstract
Co-disposition of tailings and waste rocks in open pits in the form of a permeable envelope and/or waste rock inclusions (WRI) can efficiently prevent the transport of contaminants to the environment. Such drainage paths could also accelerate tailings consolidation rate, similarly to WRI in tailings storage facilities, and therefore improve tailings mechanical properties in the short term and maximize the volume of mine waste that can be disposed of. These geotechnical benefits have, however, not been demonstrated yet nor thoroughly investigated. In this research, three-dimensional models were performed to examine the evolution of tailings consolidation in pits under the influences of co-disposed waste rocks. Various disposal scenarios were investigated, including the presence of a permeable envelop only and the addition of WRI as a central inclusion. The influences of operational and practical aspects such as the tailings filling rate, pit slope angles, waste rock and tailings hydro-geotechnical properties, and pit morphology were investigated. Results indicated that a permeable envelope could promote the dissipation of excess pore water pressure (PWP) and accelerate tailings consolidation. The influence zone of the permeable envelope was relatively limited and around 2 times the tailings height. Using a WRI combined with a permeable envelope could be geotechnically beneficial for wide pits whose radius was larger than twice of its depth. Slope angles, filling rate and pit morphology somewhat affected tailings consolidation rate, but their effect was relatively limited and decreased with the increase in the distance to the drainage paths.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the financial support from Fonds de recherche du Québec—Nature et Technologies (FRQNT) (Grant No. 2017-MI-202116) and partners of Research Institute on Mines and the Environment (RIME UQAT—Polytechnique; http://rime-irme.ca/en). The authors also gratefully acknowledge Dr. Huy Tran, Dr. Kazim and Itasca technical support team for their valuable support and comments to improve the code in this study.
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NDN: Conceived and designed the analysis; Collected the data from literature; Performed the numerical simulations; Data curation; Writing—original draft. TP: Conceived and designed the analysis; Developed an approach for analysis of the results; Supervision; Writing—Review & Editing; Funding acquisition.
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Nguyen, N.D., Pabst, T. Acceleration of Consolidation of Tailings in a Pit Using Waste Rocks Co-disposal. Geotech Geol Eng 42, 1593–1609 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02633-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02633-z