Application of Postflotation Tailings in Hydroengineering Structures

Economic development stimulated by the increased demand for production of consumer goods and the growing human population result in increasing the amounts of various wastes, including tailings. Mining industry in Poland, comprising also mining of non-ferrous metal ores, is a strategic branch of the national economy and, at the same time, a leading waste producer. Tailings management is a significant problem both in Poland and worldwide. Frequently, considerable amounts of wastes are accumulated in mine spoil tips, in areas not always suitable for their deposition, thus leading to the degradation of the surrounding environment. At the huge volume of produced wastes their rational and economically viable management is becoming crucial. On the other hand, depletion of natural aggregate deposits is an important incentive to search for substitutes, which would be suitable for the development of road infrastructure or which could be used in earth structure engineering to construct hydroengineering objects. Since no profitable recovery technologies are available at present, tailings generated by copper mining are deposited in tailings storage facilities. The largest and at the same time the only currently operating facility in Poland is the Żelazny Most Mining Tailings Storage Facility, belonging to KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. The paper presents criteria for material quality and density imposed on the material embedded in the static core of the tailings pond dam. For this purpose studies were conducted to confirm applicability of sorted tailings as a material for the construction of earth structures.