Consulting Solutions: Tailings Consolidation
Problem:
Mine tailings from various types of mining operations are often deposited on the area surrounding the mine site in the form of a slurry. The solids settle out over time and a tailings pile may have a number of lifts corresponding to deposition over different time intervals. The rate of drain-down of the wet tailings pile is of interest for understanding the mine site hydrology and stability of the tailings pile.
Solution:
 Numerical modeling of mine tailings can provide value in a number of specific areas: 1) Understanding the rate of discharge of contaminated water out of the tailings, and, 2) obtaining the pore-water pressure conditions at different deposition stages to aid in stability analysis, and, 3) estimation of long-term groundwater conditions. Problems are commonly encountered in numerical models of mine tailings due to the following reasons:
- Mine tailings typically have irregular 3D geometry.
- Mine tailings are often deposited in different lifts at different stages of the mine life requiring proper specification of initial conditions and staged models.
- Mine tailings deposited as a slurry become unsaturated over time and therefore require a numerical model capable of handling the particular nonlinearities associated with unsaturated seepage modeling.
SVFlux™ has been successfully applied to mine tailings drain-down applications and proven itself capable of matching results obtained in the field. Specifically, the following features make SVFlux the premier tool for evaluating mine tailings drain-down operation.
SoilVision Systems Ltd. also provides solutions for the large-strain numerical modeling of the consolidation process. Current state of practice typically involves running a 1-D numerical model and assuming that it reasonably represents the tailings long term behaviour in 2-D and 3D. Research has shown that this is not necessarily the case. SVS developmental software provides the solution of fully coupled large-strain multi-dimensional solutions. Such an approach is consistent with historical stress-deformation formulations and is theoretically defensible. Click here to contact us about such a solution.
Relevant Articles
Related Application Examples
Related Publications
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Priestley, D., Fredlund, M.D., van Zyl, D., - 2010
"Benchmarking Multi-Dimensional Large Strain Consolidation Analyses"
Uranium 2010, Saskatoon, Canada, August 16-18, 2010 |
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Fredlund, M.D., Ph.D., Donaldson, M., Gilson Gitirana, Ph.D. - 2009
"Large-Strain 1D, 2D and 3D Consolidation Modeling of Mine Tailings"
Tailings and Mine Waste Conference, Banff, Canada, November 1 - 4, 2009 |
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Rykaart M., Fredlund M., and Stianson J. - 2001
"Solving Tailings Impoundment Water Balance Problems With 3D Seepage Software"
Geotechnical News Magazine, Bitech Publishers Vancouver, B.C. Canada December Issue |
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N.T.M Thieu, M.D. Fredlund, D.G. Fredlund & V.Q. Hung - 2001
"Seepage Modeling in a Saturated/Unsaturated Soil System"
International Conference on Management of the Land and Water Resources, MLWR, October 20 - 22, 2001 - Hanoi, Vietnam |
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