Review of closed water loops with ore sorting and tailings valorisation for a more sustainable mining industry
Year of publication
2021
Authors
Kinnunen, Päivi; Obenaus-Emler, Robert; Raatikainen, Jukka; Guignot, Sylvain; Guimerà, Jordi; Ciroth, Andreas; Heiskanen, Kari
Abstract
Conservation and management of freshwater resources has become a major challenge of this century. In mining, one should be able to control the quantity of water intake, as well as the volume and quality of effluents. When the water loops in mining industry are closed, new methods for water quality control and optimisation at each process step are required, which facilitates also the recovery of additional valuable elements. The tightly closed water cycles necessitate that the tailings are filtered and stacked dry. Geopolymerisation of remaining tailings has the potential to be used for water and oxygen tight covers on the deposited tailings and for mine back-fill use. Detection of ore types and their classification or sorting by their geo-metallurgical properties before and in mill feed have a significant effect on metals recovery and on the process water quality in flotation. The main objective of this paper is to review the progress made towards a new paradigm shift at mine sites to recycle water and valorise tailings for an improved environmental and economic result, and for increased social acceptance of mine operations.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
Kinnunen Päivi
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Journal
Volume
278
Article number
123237
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
2
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
License of the publisher’s version
CC BY
Self-archived
No
Article processing fee (EUR)
1669
Year of payment for the open publication fee
2021
Other information
Fields of science
Environmental sciences; Environmental engineering
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
Yes
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123237
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes