A review of binders used in cemented paste tailings for underground and surface disposal practices

Abstract

Increased public awareness of environmental issues coupled with increasingly stringent environmental regulations pertaining to the disposal of sulphidic mine waste necessitates the mining industry to adopt more competent and efficient approaches to manage acid rock drainage. Cemented paste tailings (CPT) is an innovative form of amalgamated material currently available to the mining industry in developed countries. It is made usually from mill tailings mingled with a small amount of binder (customarily Portland cement) and water. The high cost associated with production and haulage of ordinary Portland cement and its alleged average performance as a sole binder in the long term (due to vulnerability to internal sulphate attack) have prompted users to appraise less expensive and technically efficient substitutes for mine tailings paste formulations. Generally, these binders include but are not limited to sulphate resistant cements, and/or as a partial replacement for Portland cement by artificial pozzolans, natural pozzolans, calcium sulphate substances and sodium silicates. The approach to designing environmentally efficient CPT is to ensure long-term stability and effective control over environmental contaminants through the use of composite binder systems with enhanced engineering properties to cater for inherit deficiencies in the individual constituents. The alkaline pore solution created by high free calcium rich cement kiln dust (CKD) (byproduct of cement manufacturing) is capable of disintegrating the solid glassy network of artificial pozzolans to produce reactive silicate and aluminate species when attacked by (OH−) ions. The augmented pozzolanic reactivity of CKD–slag and CKD–fly ash systems may produce resilient CPT. Since cemented paste comprising mine tailings and binders is a relatively new technology, a review of the binding materials used in such formulations and their performance evaluation in mechanical fill behaviour was considered pertinent in the study.