Abstract
Pastefill is used as an efficient, sustainable product to improve safety and stability of underground mines, while facilitating continued extraction of ore. Many mines have the advantage of using fresh tailings derived from the process plant to produce pastefill; however, this is not always possible if the mine and processing facility are not co-located, tailings quantities are insufficient, or the properties of the tailings are not suitable to make pastefill. Mines subject to these conditions are then required to look at alternative sources to produce pastefill, such as excavation of nearby tailings from historic mining operations.
This paper examines Kidd Mine’s use of tailings from a historic gold mining tailings storage facility (TSF) to produce pastefill. With the mine considering further expansion and deepening, the existing tailings source was critically assessed, along with two alternative tailings sources to determine a suitable source for continued pastefill production. Test work was completed and a thorough review of the tailings’ properties and their influence on pastefill strength and rheology was evaluated. The test work also reviewed the impact of temperature on the pastefill strength given the expected temperatures of the mine at depth.
Further to the physical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties of the tailings’ sources, the economic implications and practical challenges associated with excavating tailings from each of the sites was evaluated to determine a suitable tailings source to align with the potential mine expansion.