{"id":1127785,"date":"2019-07-19T13:35:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=997052"},"modified":"2019-07-19T13:35:05","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:35:05","slug":"how-to-handle-mine-tailings-safely-and-sustainably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1127785","title":{"rendered":"How to handle mine tailings safely and sustainably?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The mining<br \/>\nbusiness environment is constantly changing; it would not be an overstatement<br \/>\nto say that the paradigm is shifting, as mines face new challenges. The<br \/>\npressing issues are not only about low-grade ore bodies and mines going deeper,<br \/>\nbut also about long-term environmental impacts.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mining involves the processing of mined ore to separate valuable minerals, leaving behind huge volumes of waste tailings. Driven by mining volumes, globally generated tailings are estimated to total up to 3.2 billion tons for copper and up to 1.8 billion tons for iron per year. Water conservation and the cost of tailings and reclamation are also becoming increasingly significant factors for sustainable and economically viable mining and long-term survival.<\/p>\n<p>The practice<br \/>\nof dewatering tailings, however, is still limited to few areas globally. According<br \/>\nto Metso\u2019s analysis, only ~5% of tailings generated in 2018 were dewatered into<br \/>\nthickened, paste, or dry tailing. We estimate that by 2025 the share of<br \/>\ngenerated tailings that are dewatered will increase to ~13%.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Challenging the conventional<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The way<br \/>\ntailings are handled can have a long-term impact on economic efficiency as well<br \/>\nas on community well-being and ecosystem sustainability. The recent tailings<br \/>\ndam failures have brought safety and environmental concerns to the forefront;<br \/>\nthere have also been stronger regulatory compliances affecting the social<br \/>\nlicense to operate in many regions.<\/p>\n<p>Metso views<br \/>\ndry filtered tailings as the most viable and long-term solution for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metso.com\/campaigns\/mining-services-homepage\/https:\/www.metso.com\/industries\/mining\/tailings-management\/\">tailings handling<\/a>, as it not only helps in recycling<br \/>\nsignificantly more water to the concentrator, but also allows for a smaller<br \/>\nfreshwater footprint compared to traditional tailings impoundments. Contrary to<br \/>\nthe conventional belief, dry tailings are much more CAPEX and OPEX efficient<br \/>\ncompared to wet or paste\/thickened tailings. Technology is evolving and<br \/>\nshifting the gears towards the adoption of smart and hybrid solutions that<br \/>\nmaximize ore and water recovery while optimizing operational costs. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Enabling a water-positive world<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Today, about 70% of the mines operated by the major mining companies are in countries where water scarcity is considered as the major risk. Therefore, responsible water use is the primary driver of the growing interest in tailings dewatering \u2013 especially in countries like Peru, Chile, the US and South Africa, where the significant mines are in dry areas.<\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nindustry needs future-ready and smart filtration solutions to solve complex<br \/>\ntailings handling challenges. Backed by proven technology and industrial<br \/>\nknowledge, Metso is ahead of the curve in developing the most efficient<br \/>\ndewatering solutions with an intense commitment to maximize water recovery and<br \/>\nreuse.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Getting future ready<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A lot of<br \/>\nold tailings facilities have residual mineral values, or secondary metals that<br \/>\nwere not of interest at the time. With the advent of novel technologies, mining<br \/>\ncompanies are now figuring out ways to extract valuable metals from tailings.<br \/>\nThere are ongoing feasibility studies and capabilities to look into legacy dams<br \/>\nenabling customers to plan an \u201cend of the mine\u201d strategy.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Reprocessing<br \/>\ncould provide opportunities to help in environmental reclamation, while at the<br \/>\nsame time offering an attractive investment opportunity. Treating tailings<br \/>\nponds as a potential source for converting \u201cwaste to value\u201d would surely help<br \/>\nin changing the way the mining industry has been perceived all these years.<\/p>\n<p><em>(By Niclas H\u00e4llevall, VP, Beneficiation Solutions) <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The paradigm is shifting, as technology is evolving towards the adoption of smart and hybrid solutions that maximize ore and water recovery while optimizing operational costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,2857],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1127785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1127786,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127785\/revisions\/1127786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1127785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1127785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1127785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}