Visualization of deposition and moisture evolution of thickened tailings in the field at Musselwhite Mine

尾矿是在开采黄金或铜等矿产资源过程中研磨岩石产生的废物。这种淤泥大小的物质，基本上是泥浆，通常在采矿过程中沉积在筑坝蓄水池中。典型矿山的尾矿产生率每年可达数百万吨，矿山废物蓄水池通常覆盖数平方公里，坝高超过50 m。沿着产生的废料必须加以稳定和回收，尾矿库也有失败的风险--最近在波利山发生的灾难只是最近的一个例子。 Musselwhite是相对较少的采用浓缩尾矿技术的矿山之一。这项技术在尾矿沉积前进行脱水，增加了尾矿的强度，几乎消除了蓄水池决口的灾难性后果，并缩小了蓄水池的规模，增加了水的循环利用，具有明显的环境效益。改善水的管理对第一民族社区很重要，穆塞尔怀特矿就坐落在第一民族社区的土地上。 虽然Musselwhite成功地采用了这项技术，但增稠器的操作成本很高。Simms教授将与矿山合作，研究浓缩对尾矿强度行为的影响，并更好地了解如何最大限度地减少蓄水造成的水损失。这将降低矿山的成本，并进一步改善设施的环境绩效。

Tailings are a waste product generated by grinding of rock during extraction of mineral resources such as gold or copper. This silt size material, essentially mud, is typically deposited in dammed impoundments during mining. The generation rate of tailings can run into the millions of tonnes per year at a typical mine, and mine waste impoundments often cover several square kilometres, with dam heights in excess of 50 m. Along with the creation of a waste material that must be stabilized and reclaimed, tailings impoundments carry with them the risk of failure - the recent disaster at Mount Polley being only a recent example. Musselwhite is among relatively few mines to employ thickened tailings technology. This technology dewaters tailings before deposition, increasing their strength and virtually eliminating catastrophic consequences of impoundment breaches, as well as reducing the size of the impoundment and increasing recycling of water, which has obvious environmental benefits. The improved stewardship of water is important to First Nations communities,on whose lands Musselwhite Mine sits. While Musselwhite employs this technology successfully, there is a cost to the thickener operation. Professor Simms will work with the mine to study the effects of thickening on strength behaviour of the tailings as well as to better understand how to minimize water losses from the impoundment. This will improve costs at the mine and further improve environmental performance of the facility.