Abstract
Mining activities in general, and quarrying processes in particular, generate huge amounts of tailings with a considerable presence of fine particles and with a variable composition of minerals, which could limit the direct application of those wastes. Under the paradigm of a circular economy, more effort has to be made to find adequate applications for those secondary raw materials. In this study, a process was proposed and tests were performed to valorise fine particle product as a raw material for the building and construction industry. Samples were taken from wastes in several aggregate production plants, being characterized and processed to remove the clayey components to obtain the cleanest quartz fraction. Then, different characterization and validation tests were carried out to analyse the application of these products as raw materials in the building and construction industry (cement and ceramics). Results showed that with no complex technologies, the tailings can be considered as a mineral raw material in different applications.
Highlights
The decrease in the grade of ore in the mineral deposits, with lower liberation sizes, and the growing demand for mineral products results in increasing tonnage of processed ore in the mineral processing plants at a lower grinding size [1,2]
The quarrying process creates a great amount of tailings with considerable presence of particles under 100 μm and of a variable mineral composition, along with other components, such as iron oxides or clayey materials, which could limit the application of those wastes
Under the paradigm of a circular economy, several researchers have emphasised the need for rethinking mining wastes and tailings as secondary raw materials [2,4,5]
Summary
The decrease in the grade of ore in the mineral deposits, with lower liberation sizes, and the growing demand for mineral products results in increasing tonnage of processed ore in the mineral processing plants at a lower grinding size [1,2]. The quarrying process creates a great amount of tailings with considerable presence of particles under 100 μm and of a variable mineral composition, along with other components, such as iron oxides or clayey materials, which could limit the application of those wastes. Under the paradigm of a circular economy, several researchers have emphasised the need for rethinking mining wastes and tailings as secondary raw materials [2,4,5]. Following this concept, some authors reported the use of mine tailings on mortars [6,7,8,9,10,11], ceramics [12], and other applications [13]. The application of the products in the cement and ceramics industry was investigated
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