Polymeric stabilization of iron ore tailings for disposal in piles

Abstract

More and more technologies are being sought in order to reduce the environmental impacts in mining processes and make them more efficient and safer, with dry stacking being one of the alternatives to the disposal of mining tailings in dams. However, the stages of filtration and disposal of materials need to be optimized, since they still require many processes to achieve the conditions of compaction of the piles, using auxiliary materials, such as lime and cement. On the other hand, there is the development of studies with new geotechnical materials, which, many times, in addition to being an alternative to the use of materials that cause greater damage to the environment, emitting toxic substances during their production, as is the case of cement, provide an increase in the mechanical, chemical and hydraulic resistance of the tailings. With this in mind, this article proposes the use of the polymer High Performance Agglomerate (HPA) in the stabilization of an iron ore tailings. Due to its formulation and absorption capacity, this material has great potential to improve the mechanical properties of tailings and act as a solidifier in tailings sludge filtration processes. For this purpose, characterization tests of the materials used and special tests were carried out, such as simple compressive strength and densification with different dosages of PAH. Although some of the results were inconclusive, some trends were observed regarding the potential of the material to be used in mining processes.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.003-072