Abstract
With the increasing scrutiny on tailings management and requirements of the ground subsidence control, both the academia and industry are highly advocating the utilization of cemented paste backfill (CPB) in the mining industry. Literature review has shown that there are some studies conducted to evaluate the ecological environment, economic development, and social impact of mining. However, a comprehensive study about the economic benefits, resource benefits, environmental benefits, and social benefits of CPB is still lacking. This study aims to present a comprehensive benefit index system for CPB from four aspects, i.e., economy, resource, environment, and society. Questionnaires from experts and the mining industry using CPB technology were collected, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The relationships between economy, resource, environment, and society were analyzed. The results show that resource benefits have the greatest impact on the comprehensive benefit of CPB in the mining industry, followed by environmental, economic, and social benefits. According to relevance ranking, resource benefits are positively correlated with social, environmental, and economic benefits, whereas environmental, resource, and social benefits have correlation with economic benefits in turn. Therefore, resource, environmental, economic, and social benefits in order directly affect the comprehensive benefit of CPB on the basis of the influencing degree. Moreover, resource, environmental, and social benefits indirectly affect the comprehensive benefit of CPB. The research findings of this study would help the mining industry popularize the CPB technology and promote the sustainability and cleaner production of the mining industry.
Highlights
Cemented paste backfill (CPB) was first used at the Bad Grund Mine in Germany in the 1970s
Rock fill has the characteristics of being a simple process and relatively low investment cost, and the backfill cost is about 50 RMB/ton in China [7]. e technology is suitable for mines with relatively low requirement of surface subsidence control [8]
It is applicable to a wide range, especially to the mines with dense population and buildings and high requirement of subsidence control [9]. e cement was used as a cemented material in the process of paste fill, which was referred to as CPB [10]
Summary
Cemented paste backfill (CPB) was first used at the Bad Grund Mine in Germany in the 1970s. The cost of cemented material is relatively high [5], which reduced the enthusiasm of some mining industries to adopt CPB method in China. Rock fill has the characteristics of being a simple process and relatively low investment cost, and the backfill cost is about 50 RMB/ton in China [7]. E technology is suitable for mines with relatively low requirement of surface subsidence control [8]. Hydraulic fill applies less solid material and more water content; it is appropriate for mines lacking solid filling materials and requiring low surface subsidence control. Paste fill is to process solid waste into slurry filling material on the ground and transport it to the underground working face by filling pipe.
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