Modification of hydro-geotechnical properties of tailings for optimization of high density deposition

贱金属、贵金属、铝和沥青的露天开采都会产生大量的尾矿：水中的细颗粒悬浮物，这些悬浮物要么来自磨矿过程中对宿主岩石的研磨，要么来自开挖覆盖层中的土壤。在加拿大，仅基础金属和贵金属开采每年通常就产生2 -5亿立方米的尾矿，是城市固体废物产生率的20多倍，而且随着加拿大北部矿山开发的增加，这一数字可能还会增加。这些设施的典型占地面积约为几平方公里，水坝的高度超过200米。油砂尾矿池是少数几个从太空中可见的人造建筑之一。与尾矿相关的主要影响包括：不可恢复的和/或被污染的水流失到尾矿-水基质中，灾难性破坏的风险（最近发生在2010年10月4日匈牙利的红泥尾矿灾难）以及随之而来的环境和经济破坏，以及难以将浆状尾矿脱水以产生回收所需的强度。

Base metal, precious metal, aluminum, and surface mining of bitumen all generate substantial volumes of tailings: fine particulate suspensions in water originating from either the grinding of host rock during milling or from soil in excavated overburden. Base and precious metal mining alone typically generates 200-500 million cubic metres per year of tailings in Canada, over 20 times the generation of rate of municipal solid waste, and likely to increase with growing mine development opening up in Canada's North. Typical footprints of these facilities are in the order of several square kilometres, with dams in excess of 200 m high. Oil sands tailings ponds are some of the few manmade structures visible from space. Major impacts associated with tailings are irrecoverable and / or polluted water lost to the tailings-water matrix, the risk of catastrophic failure (occurring as recently as the red mud tailings disaster in Hungary on Oct. 4th 2010) and consequent environmental and economic devastation, and the difficulty in dewatering slurry tailings to generate the strength necessary for reclamation.