On the behaviour of tailings dams : Management in cold regions

Abstract: Associated to mining activities there is mine waste generated. The residues left over from mineralextraction processes are referred to as tailings, normally stored in surface tailings facilities. Thefacilities are usually confined by embankment dams, so called tailings dams. Sufficient stability of thetailings dams is essential, and a proper management of the tailings is needed in order to maintain asafe storage. However, optimal strategies for tailings management are very much site specific, andthere is no universal answer on how tailings management should be applied. Despite the availableguidelines, recommendations and current trends in the industry on how to handle tailings, theremust be a pertinent approach to optimize tailings management to the site-specific conditions.The aim with the work presented in this thesis is to enhance current practice in tailings managementin cold regions. Three sets of research objectives are presented, from which recommendations will begiven on how management can be adjusted for site-specific conditions.Firstly, depositional aspects in cold climate are studied. A methodology is proposed where thethermal regime is studied in a tailings facility with active deposition, i.e. raised tailings surface, andconcurrent freezing and thawing. Despite the fact that there is no natural permafrost in Sweden, thedeposition can imply generation of “man-made” permafrost in the facilities. The model is simple andeasily accessible data are used as input. With a proposed methodology, deposition schedules can bemodelled, and the deposition scheme can be adjusted in order to prevent permafrost generation intailings facilities.In addition to the depositional aspects in cold climate, a study is presented focusing on thaw stabilityof tailings beach slopes. The tailings beach is the inclined surface of settled tailings without pondedwater. For conventional tailings deposition, the beach slopes are relatively flat and the need for thawstability analyses is trivial. However, there is a current trend of adopting thickened tailingstechnology where steeper beach slopes are one of the intended merits. The increased slopeinclination might be unstable with major seasonal freezing and thawing. In rapid thaw excess porewater pressure might be generated, creating instability where masses of tailings can slide along a stillfrozen interface. Increased storage capacity, or freeboard, along the surrounding dams might beneeded, and the intended merits with the thickened tailings technology might be lost.Secondly, a study on the determination of strength parameters on granular soil is presented. Simpleshear tests are widely used particularly in Sweden for soil strength determination. However, recentstudies on tailings indicate large differences on the evaluated strength compared to what isdetermined via triaxial testing. In this thesis a laboratory study is presented, where simple sheartesting and triaxial testing were conducted. The results were used for examining the Swedishguidelines on simple shear testing and associated strength determination. It was found that directapplication of strength determined by simple shear testing leads to incorrect design assumptions.Thirdly, a study on prediction and verification of tailings dam stability is presented. Dam stability iscentral in tailings management, and a convenient way to describe the safety is via the factor of safety(FoS). Although the FoS can be predicted via calculations, it cannot be measured directly in the field.Therefore, in order to verify the calculated stability, field measurements must be used to comparewith the anticipated performance. With good agreement the prediction indicate reliableunderstanding of the dam, and the predicted stability can be verified. Without good agreement, thestability is easily questioned.Based on findings from the three sections presented in the thesis, recommendations are given ontailings management in cold regions. With increased knowledge in the field of tailings deposition incold climate, shear parameter determination and overall dam stability assessment, current practice intailings management is enhanced.