Dewatering of Mine Tailing Slurries Using Geotextile Tube: Case Histories

In mining operations, geotextiles are increasingly being used for building access roads, capping existing tailing facilities, and dewatering tailings and surface water runoffs. There have been many projects worldwide in which geotextile tubes have been used to reduce the slurry volume, increase the strength of tailings, and contain contaminants in the geotextile tubes. Typically, for dewatering applications, small-scale or bench-scale tests are performed to estimate the dewatered solid content, type and amount of flocculant, quality of the effluent, and time required for dewatering. In this paper, we discussed four different mine tailing case histories in which geotextile tubes were used to illustrate the importance of small or bench scales tests that include Jar Test, Rapid Dewatering Test (RDT), and Geotextile Dewatering Test (GDT). This study demonstrates that geotextile tubes can be effectively used for dewatering mine tailings with an initial solid concentration as low as 0.5 percent to achieve a final contained solid as high as 36 percent.