Possibilities to Construct Combined Mine Waste Dump Facility with Better Operational Sequence

Abstract

An integrated mine waste facility is designed for the Khan Krum deposit in Bulgaria (Eldridge, Wickland, Goldstone, & Kissiova, 2011). A substantial environmental benefit was achieved by designing such a facility because constructing a conventional tailings storage facility (TSF) would've needed much more surface area. However, the paper from (Eldridge, Wickland, Goldstone, & Kissiova, 2011), is mentioned that achieving a good operational sequence for constructing the facility would be a challenge. This paper evaluates how choosing the proper form for the combined mine waste dump facility (CMWDF) can help in having better control over the operational sequence. For comparison, two designs of CMWDF were designed. Each can accumulate the predicted amount of tailings the processing plant will produce. The first design has a broader construction body, and the other is narrower. It was decided like so because the broader body ensures more cells which means a better operational sequence can be achieved. Also, a conventional tailings facility was designed to compare the surface area and volume of waste rock needed for construction. All the designed Tailings Storage Facilities (TFS) require different surface areas and waste rock to be built.

Keywords

• Tailings storage facility
• Tailings deposition
• Operational sequence

References

1. Aleksandrova, E., Dimitrov, L., & Kaykov, D. (2021). Operational sequence for constructing an combined mine waste facility. XVI International Conference of the Open and Underwater Mining of Minerals, (pp. 7-13). Varna.
2. Dimitrov, L. (2021, 9-10). Types of tailings facilities in the processing of mineral raw materials - advantages and disadvantages. Geology and Mineral Resources (pp. 5-11).
3. Eldridge, T., Kissiova, M., Wickland, B., Ahmed, I. B., & Laurin, J.-F. (2013). Integrated mine waste storage facility, Krumovgrad gold project, Bulgaria. XV Balkan Mineral Processing Congres. Sozopol.
4. Eldridge, T., Wickland, B., Goldstone, A., & Kissiova, M. (2011). Integrated mine waste storage concept, Krumovgrad gold project, Bulgaria. Tailings and Mine Waste. Vancouver.