Panel title | Tailings Dewatering and Stacking

With the ongoing unacceptable rate of tailings dam failures worldwide, claiming lives and causing damage to infrastructure, livelihoods and the environment, there is an increasing push for alternative tailings management.

Key among these is tailings dewatering and stacking, the topic of this Industry Expert Panel. Tailings dewatering is not a “silver bullet” and no particular dewatering and stacking strategy is a “silver bullet” – no one-size-fits-all. Tailings vary as do the site climate, topography and seismicity, all of which must be taken into account.

Tailings dewatering includes thickening (conventional, high rate and compression), cycloning, paste production and centrifuging, pressure filtration (disc and plate) and screw filtration. The largest pressure filtration facility is 44,000 tpd at Karara in WA, while the largest tailings production is approaching 10 times that rate. Traditionally, in dry climates, tailings dewatering has been achieved by thin lift deposition and desiccation. Amphirolling and dozing may also applied, in particular for bauxite residue. 

The Industry Expert Panel will discuss the range of tailings dewatering and stacking approaches available and the limitations of each, before opening the floor to discussion.