Research into saline-tailings disposal and decommissioning Volumes I and II

Summary

This project aimed to improve understanding of the consolidation behaviour of saline and non-saline mine tailings.

Particular objectives included:

• investigating the consolidation of tailings in the Western Australian gold industry;
• quantifying the effect of evaporation on consolidation behaviour; investigating the effect of salinity on evaporation from tailings;
• developing techniques to allow numerical modelling taking account of evaporation; and
• developing a database on material properties, linking consolidation behaviour to basic tailings properties.

A study of the fate of cyanide in the tailings was also done.

Methods of modelling the behaviour of tailings consolidation were also developed and the computer program MinTaCo developed previously at UWA was refined in the project.

Keywords: mine tailings, evaporation, tailings consolidation, modelling tailings behaviour