Geotech Geol Eng

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02430-8

ORIGINAL PAPER

Characterization of an Iron Ore Tailing Sample

and the Evaluation of Its Representativeness
Jessé Joabe Vieira Carneiro   · Eduardo Antonio Gomes Marques ·
António Joaquim Pereira Viana da Fonseca · Roberto Lopes Ferraz ·
Ângelo Henrique Cruz Oliveira

Received: 23 June 2022 / Accepted: 10 March 2023

© The Author(s) 2023

Abstract  The massive annual tonnage of iron ore
tailings, plus the more demanding environmental
policies after the catastrophic collapses of Fundão
Dam in 2015 and Feijão Dam I in 2019, have forced
Brazilian mining companies to search for more sus-
tainable and safer alternatives for tailings disposal.
The Brazilian mining industry has been studying
the dry stacking of filtered tailings. Most companies
seek the development of great dry stacks, over 200 m
high, to absorb the whole tailings generation. As tail-
ings assume a structural role, it is vital to character-
ize the dry stacks and understand their behaviour.
This study aimed to characterize index properties,
J. J. V. Carneiro (*) · E. A. G. Marques · R. L. Ferraz ·
Â. H. C. Oliveira 
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidade Federal de
Viçosa (Brazil), Peter Henry Rolfs Avenue, S/N, Campus
Universitário, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
e-mail: jjv.carneiro@gmail.com
E. A. G. Marques  Geotechnical characterization · Index properties ·
e-mail: emarques@ufv.br
R. L. Ferraz 
e-mail: rlferraz@ufv.br
Â. H. C. Oliveira  Avg. Average value
e-mail: angelo.cruz.oliveira@hotmail.com.br
J. J. V. Carneiro · A. J. P. Viana da Fonseca  C–H Constant-head
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculdade de
Engenharia da Universidade Do Porto (Portugal),
Dr. Roberto Frias Street, S/N, Campus Universitário,
Porto, Porto, Portugal
e-mail: viana@fe.up.pt
evaluate the effect of compaction on the hydraulic
behaviour, and evaluate field variability of iron ore
tailings from a mine in Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Brazil.
Also, a database of iron ore tailings properties from
Quadrilátero Ferrífero was collected and used to eval-
uate the results. Specimens were compacted to 93%,
95%, 97%, and 100% of Proctor’s maximum dry unit
weight, and the hydraulic conductivity was defined
for several confining pressures (100, 200, 400, 800,
1600 and 1900  kPa) for each degree of compaction.
Index properties of the studied tailing were similar
to other iron ore tailings from the Quadrilátero Fer-
rífero, hydraulic conductivity was proportional to the
void ratio, and the field tests indicated some variabil-
ity of both material properties and degree of compac-
tion of the stacked material. The database presented
in this study supplies the mining industry with a ref-
erence point for future projects.
Keywords  Iron ore tailings · Compaction ·
Hydraulic conductivity · Field variability
List of Symbols 
ca. Circa
Cons. Consolidation
CPTu Piezocone penetration test
Cu Coefficient of uniformity
Cc Coefficient of curvature

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D. Dam 1 Introduction
D50 Mean grain size
DC Degree of compaction Tailings represent an environmental liability to the
e Void ratio mining industry and must be appropriately deposited
emax Maximum void ratio in a tailings storage facility (TSF). The massive ton-
emin Minimum void ratio nage of iron ore production in Brazil requires large
F–H Falling head TSFs and, after the catastrophic collapses of Fundão
F.P. Flow pump Dam in 2015 (the biggest environmental disaster in
Fut. Future storage the country) and Feijão Dam I in 2019 (which led to
F.W.P. Flexible wall permeameter hundreds of deaths), both by flow liquefaction (Mor-
G.P. Guelph permeameter genstern et  al. 2016; Robertson et  al. 2019; CIMNE
Gh. Goethite 2021), mining companies in Brazil have been search-
Gs Specific gravity ing for more sustainable and safer alternatives for tail-
Hist. Historical data ings storage based on a dry iron ore processing pro-
Hm. Hematite duction. Vale S.A., responsible for 71,69% of all iron
k Hydraulic conductivity ore commercial production in Brazil in 2021 (ANM
LL Liquid limit 2023), has invested about R$ 66 billion in the devel-
L.S. Large Strain opment of technologies and facilities for dry iron ore
M. Mine processing production in the last decade (Vale 2020).
Max. Maximum value Dry stacking of dewatered tailings is one of the tech-
Mg. Magnetite nics that have been studied and gradually imple-
Min. Minimum value mented by major mining companies in Brazil.
NP Non plastic Dry stacking is a stable way of storing tailings in
Ovr. Overflow an unsaturated and dense solid state. Even though
PI Plasticity index other dewatering technics have been studied (Fourie
PL Plastic limit et al. 2007; Fourie and Jones 2010; Lees 2016; Sahi
Pl. Plastic et  al. 2019; Zhang et  al. 2022; Shafaei et  al. 2022),
QF Quadrilátero Ferrífero tailings dewatering is usually done in a large capacity
R. Remoulded vacuum or pressure belt filters, so they are also called
R.W.P. Rigid wall pemeameter filtered tailings (Davies & Rice 2001). When tailings
S Saturation are dewatered, there is a decrease in the water con-
Sp Specific surface tent and an increase in the effective solids content that
Stdev. Standard deviation implies higher effective stresses, consequently, higher
Strd. Stored tailings internal resistance in the material (Davies et al. 2010).
TSF Tailings storage facility However, the Brazilian mining companies intend to
t50 Measured time for 50% dissipation develop great dry stacks (over 200 m high) to absorb
U. Undisturbed tailings generation, and before building enormous dry
Un. Unidentified stacks, it is vital to understand the intrinsic character-
Und. Underflow istics and the tailings behaviour under high confin-
w Water content ing stresses (Lupo and Hall 2011; Davies 2011; Hore
wfield Water content of embankment and Luppnow 2014; Crystal et al. 2018; Furnell et al.
wdev. Water content deviation 2022).
wopt Optimum water content This study aimed to 1) understand the intrinsic
γ Bulk unit weight properties of tailings that will be stored in a dry stack
γd Dry unit weight in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero (Minas Gerais, Brazil),
γd,field Dry unit weight of embankment. 2) understand the material’s hydraulic behaviour in
γd,max Maximum dry unit weight different states when changing the degree of compac-
σ’v Effective vertical stress tion and confining pressures, and 3) verify the mate-
rial’s variability in the field after quality–control tests.

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Despite the singularities of each company’s mineral
beneficiation processes, similarities among tailings
from different facilities in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero
(QF) are expected because the mines are in the same
geological formation. Therefore, a database of the
tailings characteristics of iron ore mines in the QF has
been collected and used to analyse the tailings studied
in this research. Comparing the properties of different
tailings generated in the QF helps identify patterns
and ranges of variation, which can be used to analyse
iron ore tailings from the same formation and with
similar physical characteristics.
2 Materials and Methods
Disturbed samples of iron ore tailings were collected
in airtight plastic bags directly from the pressure belt
filter before being deposited and compacted in the
TSF in a mining complex located in the QF, where
the total tailings are currently being press filtered
and deposited in the TSF. The experimental program
described in this chapter was developed in the Labo-
ratory of Soil Mechanics of the Federal University of
Viçosa (LMS-UFV) (Viçosa, Brazil) and the Geo-
technical Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering of
the University of Porto (LabGeo-FEUP) (Porto, Por-
tugal). Additionally, a trial embankment was built by
the mining company, in which field compaction qual-
ity-control tests were performed and made available
for the research.
2.1 Sample Preparation
Tailing samples were dried at room temperature (~ 22
℃), loosened, sieved, homogenized, and stored in
airtight plastic bags. Before each test, samples were
loosened, sieved, and homogenized again to avoid
lumps.
2.2 Index Tests
Index tests were performed to determine the Atterberg
limits, maximum and minimum void ratios, grain size
distribution, and specific gravity of the iron ore tail-
ings. Samples were prepared according to the Brazil-
ian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) Bra-
zilian Regulatory Standard (NBR) 6457:2016.
2.2.1 Grain Size Distribution
Grain size analyses were conducted according to
the International Standards Organization (ISO)
17,892–4:2016 and ABNT NBR 7181:2016. Twenty-
four analyses were performed at LMS-UFV: one with
the homogenized sample, and twenty-three with the
material resulting from the hydraulic conductivity
tests. Three analyses were performed at LabGeo-
FEUP: two with the homogenized samples and one
with the material resulting from the standard Proctor
test.
The grain size analyses were performed to evalu-
ate the uniformity of the samples sent to both labo-
ratories. Additionally, it was evaluated the evolution
or not of the grain size distribution due to the static
(material resulting from the hydraulic conduction
tests) and dynamic compaction (material resulting
from the standard Proctor test).
2.2.2 Specific Gravity
Three tests were performed to define the specific
gravity of the iron ore tailing samples: one test at
LMS-UFV and two at LabGeo-FEUP to verify the
similarity of the samples sent to both laboratories.
The tests followed the ABNT NBR 6458:2016 and
ISO 17892–3:2015 methods, respectively.
2.2.3 Atterberg Limits
Tests to determine plasticity and liquid limits were
performed at LMS-UFV in conformity with the
ABNT NBR 7180:2016 and NBR 6459:2016,
respectively.
2.2.4 Maximum and Minimum Void Ratios
At LMS-UFV, the minimum and maximum void
ratios were determined following test method A.1
of ABNT NBR 16,843:2020 and test method A of
ABNT NBR 16,840:2020, respectively.
2.3 Proctor Compaction Test
Samples tested in the compaction tests were prepared
according to the ABNT NBR 6457:2016 method.
Standard Proctor tests were performed in both
laboratories. At the LMS-UFV it was adopted the
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equipment and procedures according to the ABNT
NBR 7182:2016: small rammer with 2,5 ± 0,01  kg
and 50,0 ± 0,5  mm of diameter; small mould with
an inside diameter of 100,0 ± 0,1  mm and height
of 127,3 ± 0,3  mm; drop height of 305 ± 2  mm; 26
blows per layer and three layers. At LabGeo-FEUP
it was adopted the equipment and procedures accord-
ing to the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering
(LNEC) E 197:1966: small rammer with 2,49 kg and
50 mm of diameter; small mould with an inside diam-
eter of 102 mm and height of 117 mm; drop height of
305 mm; 25 blows per layer and three layers.
2.4 Field Test
To evaluate the quality of field compaction, the min-
ing company determined the dry unit weight (γd) and
water content (w) of 218 samples collected in differ-
ent areas of a trial embankment. Each lift of the trial
embankment was 0.5 m tick. Two samples were col-
lected in some of the checked points to evaluate the
compaction homogeneity of the layer: one on the top
and another at the base of the compacted layer. Bulk
unit weight (γ) was determined by the Drive-Cylinder
Method, following the ABNT NBR 9813:2016; water
content was determined by oven drying the sample
at 110  °C ± 5  °C following the Brazilian National
Highway Department (DNER) test method (ME)
213:1994.
The γd and w values of each sample were com-
pared to the maximum dry unit weight (γd,max) and
optimum water content ­(wopt) defined after standard
Proctor tests performed every 1000 m­ 3 of compacted
tailings. A total of thirty-three standard Proctor
tests were performed by the mining company tech-
nical staff, and the results were made available for
interpretation. The standard Proctor tests were per-
formed according to the ABNT NBR 7182:201 (with
similar equipment and procedures as presented in
subsection 2.3).
2.5 Hydraulic Conductivity Test
The hydraulic conductivity tests were performed in
a flexible wall permeameter adapted from the triax-
ial system following the ASM D5084:2016, Method
A (constant head). It used triaxial-type cells with all
the components. Sixteen hydraulic conductivity tests
were performed in the different confining stresses
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with gradients equal to 4, 8 and 12, and no signifi-
cant difference was observed in the results. Therefore,
the other eighteen tests were realized after saturation
and consolidation with a constant hydraulic gradi-
ent equal to 8 until at least four values of constant
hydraulic conductivity were obtained. The data acqui-
sition was done after every 20 s with electronic pres-
sure transducers.
Four tests (one for each degree of compaction)
were conducted after the saturation stage, at 10  kPa
of effective confining pressure, and thirty tests were
performed after the isotropic consolidation at differ-
ent effective confining stresses (100  kPa, 200  kPa,
400  kPa, 800  kPa, 1600  kPa, and 1900  kPa): eight
specimens with the degree of compaction, DC = 93%;
eight with DC = 95%; eight with DC = 97% and six
with DC = 100%.
At LMS-UFV it was adopted specimens circa (ca.)
50 mm in diameter × 100 mm long. At LabGeo-FEUP
it was used sixteen specimens ca. 72  mm in diame-
ter × 144  mm long, and five specimens ca. 60  cm in
diameter × 120  mm long. The specimens were pre-
pared through static compaction using a split mould
and a press. At LMS-UFV, samples were compacted
in four layers. For each layer, it was determined the
exact mass of tailings to compensate for the effect of
over-compaction. After the compaction of each layer,
the material was scarified to avoid smooth planar
surfaces between the compacted layers and improve
the adherence between them. Specimens tested at
LabGeo-FEUP followed the same preparation proce-
dures, but they were compacted into six layers.
3 Iron Ore Tailings from the Quadrilátero
Ferrífero, Brazil
Based on a comprehensive literature collection of
data, it was possible to provide an overview of the
index (physical), compaction and permeability char-
acteristics of the QF iron ore tailings.
3.1 Grain Size Distribution
The grain size distribution of the tailings is affected
by different factors, such as the mineral composi-
tion, the efficiency of the processing, and the disposal
methods (Vick 1990). Robertson et al. (2019) subdi-
vided the grading curves of Feijão Dam I into coarse
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(maximum fines content = 50%), fine (50% to 96%
fines), and slime (~ 100% fines) tailings. Besides grain
size distribution, the main difference among materials
was the material’s response to CPTu loading. Accord-
ing to the authors, coarse tailings presented a drained
behaviour during CPTu; fine tailings presented an
undrained behaviour with rapid pore pressure dissipa-
tion (measured time for 50% dissipation, t­50 < 400 s),
and slimes presented an undrained behaviour with
longer slow pore pressure dissipation ­(t50 > 1000  s).
Oathes et  al. (2022) used the same delineation of
materials to model the Feijão Dam I failure.
A gradual change in the mechanical and hydrau-
lic behaviour of the tailings with the fines content
increase is expected. However, the approach pre-
sented by Robertson et al. (2019) allows us to search
for tendencies in the tailings’ behaviour based on
their index properties. Thus, in Table  1, the limits
determined by Robertson et  al. (2019) were adopted
to classify the grain size distributions collected in the
literature (Fig.  1), and the subsequent index proper-
ties are given in Sects. 3.2 to 3.6
From 72 grading curves, 25 were coarse tailings,
and 40 were fine tailings. Based on the high values of
the coefficient of uniformity ­(Cu) and the coefficient
of curvature ­(Cc), coarse and fine tailings would be
classified as well-graded or gap-graded soils, respec-
tively. However, most grade curves presented in
Fig.  1 are reasonably vertical, followed by a tail of
finer particles that confers the high values of ­Cu and
­Cc. The same characteristic was identified by Li et al.
(2018) for gold tailings. According to the authors,
these materials are relatively poorly graded instead of
well graded.
Therefore, nearly all coarse and fine tailings pre-
sented poorly graded curves composed mainly of
silt and fine sands. The average grain size distribu-
tion curve of the coarse tailings indicates a silty sand
material with 49.9% of fine sand and 23.3% of silt,
while the average grain size distribution curve of the
fine tailings indicates a sandy silt material with 53.9%
of silt and 33.0% of fine sand. The slimes showed
more well-graded curves composed mainly of silt
size material (average = 72.2%) and clay size material
(average = 25.9%). Nonetheless, the standard devia-
tion values of all categories indicate considerable
variability of the tailings’ grading curves.
Most tailings grade curves are between the lower
boundary of the fine tailings samples presented by
Robertson et al. (2019) and the upper boundary of the
samples tested by Silva (2010). Figure 2 presents the
contours in which the grain size distribution curves of
slimes (in light pink), and fine and coarse tailings (in
navy blue) from the Quadrilátero Ferrífero are most
likely to be. In white, it is also presented the average
curve that separates the fine tailings from the coarse
tailings.
It is worth mentioning that Fundão Dam and Fei-
jão Dam I collapsed through flow liquefaction. As the
defined contours are inside the grain size distribution
range initially presented by Robertson et  al. (2019)
for Feijão Dam I, all the tailings of the Quadrilátero
Ferrífero located inside these contours may be sus-
ceptible to liquefaction. Yet based on Robertson et al.
(2019), the tailings below the average curve (with
more than 50% of fines) are prone to have undrained
behaviour under saturated conditions. The grain size
distribution alone is not enough to dictate if the mate-
rial is susceptible to liquefaction or not, but it may be
used as a preliminary reference to identify potentially
liquefiable tailings, as presented by Ishihara et  al.
(1980) for cyclic liquefaction susceptibility.
3.2 Specific Gravity
The tailings’ specific gravity ­(Gs) depends on the spe-
cific gravity and concentration of each constituent
mineral. As iron minerals have high specific gravity,
the higher their contents, the higher the specific grav-
ity of the tailings. Table 2 shows the high variability
of iron mineral contents among samples. Some tail-
ings are composed essentially of quartz, such as QF—
AM01 (Pires et  al. 2019), and others are composed
mainly of iron minerals, such as Feijão D. I—Coarse
Tailings (Robertson et al. 2019). The hematite, mag-
netite, and goethite grades also vary from each sam-
ple, and the hematite concentration is usually the
highest. Iron content is inversely proportional to the
efficiency of iron ore processing. Old tailings deposits
(e.g., Feijão Dam I) tend to have higher iron content
than tailings generated nowadays (e.g., Fernandinho
mine future storage). Moreover, slime samples tend
to present higher grades of iron minerals than other
tailings.
Table 3 shows that the average specific gravity of
all samples, coarse, fine tailings, and slimes do not
diverge much: 3.66  g/cm3 considering all samples,
3.63  g/cm3 for coarse tailings, 3.59  g/cm3 for fine
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Table 1  Statistic of the grain size distribution curves and percentage of grain sizes of the QF iron ore tailings
Tailing Statistics D50 (mm) CU Cc % Fines < 0.075 mm Percent ABNT—NBR 6502:1995
Clay < 0.002 mm Silt 0.002– Sand
0.06 mm
Fine 0.06– Medium Coarse Gravel > 2.0 mm
0.2 mm 0.2–0,6 mm 0.6–2.0 mm

All (72) Avg 0.069 23.0 4.6 62.2 7.8 45.0 35.8 8.6 1.7 1.0
Stdev 0.053 38.1 7.8 24.2 8.5 21.4 18.3 10.2 3.5 4.4
Max 0.290 233 31.7 100 41 85.5 72 45 16 32
Min 0.004 2.2 0.1 10 0 3 0 0 0 0
Coarse (25) Avg 0.119 24.6 4.1 35.9 3.6 23.3 49.9 17.3 4.0 1.9
Stdev 0.057 53.3 8.6 11 4.3 10.2 12.6 11.1 5.0 6.4
Max 0.290 233 30.8 50 13.5 38.5 72 45 16 32
Min 0.074 2.2 0.4 10 0 3 18.5 3 0 0
Fine (40) Avg 0.048 22.9 5.6 72.2 7.3 53.9 33.0 4.7 0.5 0.7
Stdev 0.021 29.1 7.9 14.2 6.0 15.5 13.0 5.9 1.3 2.9
Max 0.120 106 31.7 100 19.5 82 55 23 5 18
Min 0.009 2.3 0.1 50 0 23 10 0 0 0
Slime (7) Avg 0.006 17.9 1.3 99 25.9 72.2 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0
Stdev 0.002 14.2 0.3 1.2 9.9 8.9 2.2 0.0 0.0 0.0
Max 0.011 46.4 1.6 100 41 85.5 5.5 0 0 0
Min 0.004 6.7 0.7 97 10 59 0 0 0 0
D50 mean grain size, Cu coefficient of uniformity, Cc coefficient of curvature, Avg average, Stdev Standard deviation, Max maximum value, Min minimum value
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Fig. 1  Grain size distri-

bution curves of tailings
stored in several TSFs of
the Quadrilátero Ferrífero.
Note: limits upper and
lower limits of the grain
size distribution range. D.
dam. Hist. historical data.
QF Quadrilátero Ferrífero.
M. mine. Over. overflow.
Under. underflow. Fut.
future storage

tailings, and 3.97  g/cm3 for slimes. However, they
present significant standard deviation, and comparing
Table 2 with Table 4, it is identified that tailings with
higher iron content have higher specific gravity and
tailings with lower iron content have lower specific
gravity, as expected.
indicated low plasticity, even for slimes. Based on
the Casagrande plasticity chart, high-plastic materials
(LL > 50%) were identified only by Ferreira (2018),
Miranda (2018), and Robertson et al. (2019).
3.4 Maximum and Minimum Void Ratios

3.3 Atterberg Limits The maximum and minimum void ratios (limiting

Most of the analysed samples of the QF iron ore tail-
ings, presented in Table  5, were non-plastic (69%).
The number of plastic samples tends to increase
in the finer tailings. Evaluating the type of tailings,
94% of the coarse tailings were non-plastic, 77% of
the fine tailings were non-plastic, and 100% of the
slimes were plastic. However, it is noteworthy that
the average values of the plastic samples (Table  3)
void ratios) are affected by several factors, such as
the grain size distribution, fines content, mean grain
size, particles shape, and intrinsic characteristics of
the fine and coarse fractions (Cubrinovski and Ishi-
hara 1999, 2002; Carraro and Prezzi 2008). The lim-
ing void ratios reflect not only the physical properties,
but also the characteristics of soil behaviour, such as
compressibility, contractiveness, and flow potential
(Cubrinovski and Ishihara 2000, 2002). Non-plastic

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Fig. 2  Contours in which the grain size distribution of the QF
iron ore tailings are most likely to be. In light pink, the slimes
contours; in navy blue the fine and coarse tailings; and in white
the average curve, which separates fine tailings from coarse
tailings
soils tend to pass from a coarse-dominated structure
to a fines-dominated structure when increasing the
fines content. Until the transition zone, around 30%
to 40% of fines content, ­emax and ­emin tend to vary at
the same rate. However, for soils with fines content
above 40%, ­emax tends to increase at a faster rate than
­emin, resulting in more compressible soils (Lade et al.
1998; Cubrinovski and Ishihara 2002; Cubrinovski
et al. 2010; Mijic et al. 2021).
Different authors in the literature have determined
the maximum and the minimum void ratios of tailings
with fines content up to 40% to extend the use of rela-
tive density to tailings (Vick 1990). Torres-Cruz &
Santamarina (2020) expand the determination of ­emax
and ­emin to characterize the behaviour of non-plastic
silts. According to the authors, determining the limit-
ing void ratios may assist the elaboration of sampling
programs. However, Carraro & Prezzi (2008) alert
that ­emax and e­ min, specially e­ max, are affected by the
method adopted to determine them, and the real ­emax
of natural loose deposits and tailings dams’ reservoirs
may not be assessed by the conventional standard
methods.
Table 4 presents the maximum and minimum void
ratios of the QF iron ore tailings found in the litera-
ture. As expected, the coarse tailings show average
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­emin and ­emax slightly lower than the fine tailings
(Table 3). The maximum void ratio is two times more
dispersed than the minimum void ratio for both fine
and coarse tailings. High values of ­emax were found
for coarse and fine tailings, even though the increase
of ­emax should be proportional to the fines content
increase. The variability of e­ max may result from the
physical properties of the tailings and the method
adopted by each author to define it.
3.5 Maximum Dry Unit Weight and Optimum Water
Content
Most ­wopt. values of the tailings generated in the
Quadrilátero Ferrífero found in the literature and pre-
sented in Table  6 are between 10 and 17%. A small
increase in the average ­wopt. is observed with the fines
content increase: 12.6% for coarse tailings, 13.4% for
fine tailings, and 16.5% for slimes (Table  3). Most
of γd,max is between 17.7 kN/m3 and 21.7 kN/m3, the
average values found for coarse (γd,max = 20,0 kN/m3)
and fines (γd,max = 20,2 kN/m3) tailings do not show
significant change. The slimes show a higher average
value (γd,max = 22.2 kN/m3), which is consistent with
the tendency of slime tailings to present higher iron
ore content (Vick 1990). Notice that the maximum
dry unit weight is directly proportional to the spe-
cific gravity of the material. Therefore, it is expected
to have higher values of γd,max for the samples with
higher ­Gs—as for Forquilha III Dam samples (Dornas
2008)—and lower values of γd,max for samples with
lower ­Gs—as for Germano Dam, Bay 3, coarse tail-
ings samples (Ferreira 2016).
3.6 Hydraulic Conductivity
The hydraulic conductivity (k) of tailings is hard to
generalize because it is affected by several charac-
teristics, such as fines content, plasticity, confin-
ing stresses, void ratio, stratigraphy, material struc-
ture, sampling, and testing procedures. According to
Vick (1990), hydraulic conductivity can vary from
­10–10  m/s in slimes to ­10–4  m/s in coarse tailings.
Moreover, hydraulic conductivity tends to reduce up
to five times the initial value by reducing the void
ratio, while this reduction can be about ten times in
slimes.
Chapuis & Aubertin (2003) studied the applica-
bility of the Kozeny-Carman (KC) equation to mine
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Table 2  Mineral and elemental composition of the QF iron ore tailings

Tailing Hematite (%) Magnetite (%) Goethite (%) Fe (%) Reference

Morro Agudo M. (Crs.) – – – 23 Presotti (2002)

Monjolo Dump (Crs.)
Germano D. (Crs.)
Germano Pit (F.)
Itabiruçu D. (Crs.)
Forquilha III D. (F.)
Forquilha II D. (Crs.)
Campo Grande D. (Crs.)
Córrego do Doutor D. (Crs.)
Córrego do Doutor D. (F.)
Germano D. (Crs.)
Fundão D. (Un.)
Fundão D. (Slm.)
Fernandinho M. Fut. (Crs.)
Fernandinho M. Fut. (F.)
Pontal D. Arm 1 (Un.)
Pontal D. Beach (Un.)
Serra Azul M. (Crs)
QF AM01 (Crs.)
QF AM02 (F.)
QF AM03 (F.)
QF AM04 (F.)
QF AM05 (Crs.)
QF AM06 (F.)
QF AM07 (F.)
Feijão D. I Hist. (Un.)
Feijão D. I (Crs.)
Feijão D. I (F.)
Feijão D. I (Slm.)
Fundão D. (Slm.)
– – – 20.9 (16.5–26.6) Santos (2004)
– – – 14.2 Pereira (2005)
– – – 19.9 (17.6–22.2)
– – – 20.1 (19.2–21.0)
– – – 34.5 (33.7–35.2)
– – – 53.96
– – – 42.45
– – – 21.4
23.0
 < 20 –  < 5 13.1 Tolentino (2010)
– – – 17.54 (10,71–32,1) Rezende (2013)
42.9 0 30.9 – Morgenstern et al. (2016)
– – – 14.6 Carvalho (2017)
26.9
45.3 (38.2–56.0) 0.4 (0.04–0.9) 4.4 (2.9–7.7) 34.2 (29.9–38.8) Ferreira (2018)
– – – 28.0 (21.4–35.3)
– – – 30.3 Dauce et al. (2019)
14.5 – 0.9 11.4 Pires et al. (2019)
42.0 – 2.0 27.4
28.9 – 12.6 25.0
46.7 – 7.1 32.8
18.2 – 4.0 12.7
34.0 – 2.8 23.9
39.5 – 4.6 26.8
77.1 8.6 7.1 51.5 (38.5–66.6) Robertson et al. (2019)
87.3 (86.8–87.7) 7.1 (6.5–7.6) 3.2 (3–3.4) –
48.0 (43.1–54.1) 1.5 (1.3–1.9) 15.0 (10.2–20.7) –
47.3 (44.4–50.1) 0.4 (0.4–0.4) 33.0 (32.0–34.0) –
– – – 51.4 Lima & Abreu (2020)

Fe iron content, M mine. D dam, Slm slime, Fut future storage, QF Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Hist historical data, Crs coarse, F fine, Un
Unidentified

tailings. According to the authors, the KC equa- Table  7 presents average values of the hydraulic
tion may be used to predict the k-value of tailings if conductivity obtained by different authors of tailings
it accounts for the particle shape effect, as in Eq.  1. generated in facilities located in the Quadrilátero Fer-
However, the KC equation does not estimate k-values rífero. The range of variation of the hydraulic con-
of intact tailings samples due to their increased stra- ductivity is very similar to the one presented by Vick
tigraphy and high anisotropy. (1990): 1.15 × ­10−10 m/s (Morgenstern et al. 2016) to
[ ] 1.45 × ­10−4  m/s (Santos 2004). However, the lowest
k e3 k-value was obtained in an oedometer test in coarse
log = 1, 46 ⋅ 0, 5 + 2 2 + 1, 99 (1)
1m∕s Gs Sp (1 + e) tailings with e = 0.70, which does not match the
expected values for such material. This value is even
where, k is the hydraulic conductivity, e void ratio, ­Gs lower than the values obtained for slimes of the same
specific gravity, ­Sp specific surface. TSF, analysed by the same authors.

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Table 3  Statistical parameters of the QF iron ore tailing index properties: mineral and elemental compositions, specific gravity, void
ratios, maximum dry unit weight, optimum water content, and Atterberg limits
Samples Stat Hm. (%) Mg. (%) Gh. (%) Fe (%) Gs (g/cm3) emin emax wopt (%) γd,max (kN/m3) Atterberg limits
of plastic samples
LL PL PI

All Avg 42.3 3.0 9.5 27 3.66 0.64 1.21 13.4 20.3 28.7 17.5 11.2
Stdev 20.9 3.2 11.3 12.3 0.61 0.10 0.22 3.7 2.0 12.8 5.9 8.1
Max 87.7 8.6 34.0 66.6 5.22 0.91 1.77 21.2 25.6 60.0 32.4 31.0
Min 14.5 0.0 0.9 10.7 2.38 0.45 0.87 5.3 17.4 15.0 9.3 3.0
Coarse tailings Avg 35.0 7.1 3.3 23.2 3.63 0.63 1.14 12.6 20.0 31.7 14.7 17.0
Stdev 38.2 0.6 1.4 11.4 0.73 0.10 0.20 3.5 2.2 15.7 5.1 10.7
Max 87.7 7.6 5.0 54.0 5.22 0.85 1.63 19.9 25.6 52.0 21.0 31.0
Min 14.5 6.5 0.9 11.4 2.38 0.45 0.87 5.3 17.5 21.0 11.0 10.0
Fine tailings Avg 39.9 1.5 7.4 26.7 3.59 0.67 1.31 13.4 20.2 27.6 17.6 9.9
Stdev 8.0 0.3 6.5 5.7 0.50 0.08 0.22 4.0 1.8 13.6 5.9 8.0
Max 54.1 1.9 20.7 35.2 5.14 0.91 1.77 21.2 22.8 60.0 32.4 31.0
Min 28.9 1.3 2.0 17.6 2.66 0.54 1.02 6.2 17.4 15.2 9.3 3.0
Slimes Avg 45.1 0.2 32 51.4 3.96 – – 16.5 22.2 31.4 18.0 13.4
Stdev 3.2 0.2 1.3 – 0.21 – – 0.3 0.5 12.8 7.3 7.3
Max 50.1 0.4 34 – 4.32 – – 16.7 22.6 53.0 31.0 26.0
Min 42.9 0 30.9 – 3.61 – – 16.3 21.9 15.0 11.0 4.0
Stat statistics, Hm hematite, Mg magnetite, Gh goethite, Fe iron content, Gs specific gravity, emin and emax minimum and maximum
void ratios, wopt optimum water content. γd,max maximum dry unit weight, LL liquid limit, PL plastic limit, PI plasticity index, Avg
average, Stdev Standard deviation, Max maximum value, Min minimum value

The void ratios of most samples shown in Table 7
were between 0.60 and 0.90. For this range, taking
the average values of each author and excluding the
sample analysed by Morgenstern et  al. (2016), con-
sidered as an outlier, the average value of the hydrau-
lic conductivity of the tailings is 1.92 × ­10−5 m/s, with
a standard deviation of 3.36 × ­10−5  m/s. In the tests
where k was calculated to different confining stresses,
there was a progressive reduction of its value with the
increasing stresses and void ratio reduction. Overall,
coarse tailings presented a variation of one-half to
five times the initial value, following the usual reduc-
tion presented by Vick (1990). One exception was
the sample analysed by Morgenstern et  al. (2016),
which reduced a hundred times the initial value. The
fine tailings showed a variation of three times the ini-
tial value. The slimes studied by Morgenstern et  al.
(2016) reduced three times the initial value in the
oedometer test; in the large strain consolidation test,
the hydraulic conductivity at the final void ratio was
sixty times lower than the initial value. The hydraulic
conductivity is considerably affected by the test used
to measure it. Furthermore, comparing the hydraulic
conductivities of fine and coarse tailings measured
by the same author and the same type of test, Table 7
shows that, on average, fine tailings tend to have
hydraulic conductivity ten to one hundred times lower
than coarse tailings.
4 Results and Discussions
4.1 Grain Size Distribution
As synthesized in Table 8, the grain size distributions
presented 83% to 94% of fines passing the nº 200
sieve, from which the majority are silt size particles.
The samples UFV and FEUP—Sample A (Fig.  3)
showed high similarity. Nonetheless, FEUP—Sam-
ple B showed some divergence on the central portion
of the curve. The FEUP—Sample B, likewise the
FEUP—Sample A—Proctor, exhibited higher content
of particles ranging from 0.02  mm to 0.04  mm than
the other samples.
When comparing FEUP—Sample A with FEUP—
Sample A—Proctor the fines content increases in the

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Table 4  Specific gravity, maximum and minimum void ratios of the QF iron ore tailings
Tailing Gs (g/cm3) emin emax Reference

Monjolo dump (Crs.) 3.38 (2.89–4.41) 0.65 (0.58–0.75) 0.95 (0.89–1.05) Presotti (2002)
Monjolo dump (Crs.) 3.08 (2.95–3.19) 0.57 (0.51–0.65) 0.95 (0.88–0.99) Santos (2004)
Germano pit (F.) 3.33 (3.27–3.40) 0.62 1.29 (1.26–1.33) Pereira (2005)
Itabiruçu D. (Crs.) 3.37 (3.34–3.41) 0.67 1.38 (1.37–1.39)
Forquilha III D. (F.) 3.88 (3.81–3.95) 0.61 (0.57–0.64) 1.68 (1.59–1.77)
Forquilha II D. (Crs.) 4.80 0.74 1.63
Campo grande D. (Crs.) 4.15 0.74 1.25
Córrego do doutor D. (Crs.) 3.37 0.60 1.37
Córrego do doutor D. (F.) 3.40 0.61 1.25
Forquilha III D. (Crs.) 3.96 (3.42–4.52) 0.54 (0.45–0.59) 1.11 (1.02–1.21) Dornas (2008)
Forquilha III D. (F.) 3.56 (3.27–3.99) 0,54 1.09
Pontal D. (Crs.) 3.32 0.57 (0.50–0.63) 1.04 Alves (2009)
Pontal D. (F.) 3.41 0.91 1.70
Feijão D. I (Crs.) 4.54 (3.80–5.11) 0.75 (0.57–0.80) 1.34 (1.14–1.48) Silva (2010)
Feijão D. I (F.) 4.38 (3.80–4.72) 0.74 1.30
Feijão D. I (Slm.) 4.00 – –
Fundão D. (Crs.) 2.90 (2.77–3.17) 0.55 (0.53–0.57) 1.04 Rezende (2013)
Fundão D. (F.) 3.08 (2.94–3.08) – –
Itatiaiuçu D. (F.) 3.70 (3.44–3.84) – – Silva (2014)
Germano D., B3 (Crs.) 2.91 – – Ferreira (2016)
Germano D., B3 (Slm.) 3.83 – –
Pau branco M. (Slm.) 3.90 – – Gomes et al. (2016)
Fundão D. (Crs.) 3.00 (2.38–4.34) 0.53 (0.47–0.58) 0.87 Morgenstern et al. (2016)
Fundão D. (Slm.) 3.90 (3.69–3.99) – –
SD-02 Stack (Crs.) 2.85 (2.55–3.32) – – Carvalho (2017)
SD-02 Stack (F.) 3.61 (3.31–4.10) – –
Fernandinho M. Fut. (Crs.) 3.23 (3.21–3.27) 0.64 (0.63–0.67) 1.06 (1.05–1.08)
Fernandinho M. Fut. (F.) 3.00 (2.98–3.02) 0.71 (0.69–0.72) 1.04 (1.02–1.05)
Pontal D., Arm I (Crs.) 3.43 (3.23–3.82) 0.63 (0.55–0.85) 1.13 (0.97–1.45) Ferreira (2018)
Pontal D., Arm I (F.) 3.64 (3.23–3.99) 0.65 (0.60–0.70) 1.21 (1.17–1.26)
Pontal D., Beach (Crs.) 3.40 (3.06–3.68) 0.49 (0.46–0.52) 0.97 (0.90–1.04)
Pontal D., Beach (F.) 3.30 (3.14–3.61) – –
Forquilha I D. (F.) 3.52 (2.74–4.29) 0.67 (0.63–0.70) 1.27 (1.20–1.35) Miranda (2018)
Serra Azul Mine (Crs.) 3.71 (3.54–3.84) 0.74 (0.71–0.77) 1.05 (1.01–1.09) Mohallem (2018)
Serra Azul Mine (F.) 3.56 (3.41–3.72)
Fundão D. (Slm.) 4.17 – – Lima & Abreu (2020)
Feijão D. I Hist. (Crs.) 4.60 (2.71–5.22) – – Robertson et al. (2019)
Feijão D. I Hist. (F.) 4.21 (2.66–5.14) – –
Feijão D. I (Crs.) 4.89 (4.64–4.99) – –
Feijão D. I (F.) 3.89 (3.87–3.90) – –
Feijão D. I (Slm.) 3.97 (3.61–4.32) – –
Gs specific gravity, emin and emax minimum and maximum void ratios, M mine, D dam, Crs coarse, Slm slime, Fut future storage, Hist
historical data, F fine

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Table 5  Atterberg limits of the QF iron ore tailings

Tailing Number of samples Atterberg limits plastic samples
NP PL LL PL PI Reference

Feijão D. I (Un.) 10 6 24 (18.2–33.3) 17.9 (13.8–23.5) 6.1 (4.3–9.8) Silva (2010)

Itatiaiuçu D. (F.) 3 0 – – – Silva (2014)
Germano D., B3 (Crs.) 1 0 – – – Ferreira (2016)
Germano D., B3 (Slm.) 0 1 24.1 11.2 12.9
Fundão D. (Crs.) 1 0 – – – Morgenstern et al. (2016)
Fundão D. (Slm.) 0 3 27.1 (26.0–28.4) 17.4 (16.0–19.0) 9.7 (7.0–11.1)
SD-02 stack (Crs.) 3 0 – – – Carvalho (2017)
SD-02 stack (F.) 12 2 16.7 (15.2–18.2) 10.9 (9.3–12.4) 5.9 (5.8–5.9)
Fernandinho M. Fut. (Crs.) 3 0 – – –
Fernandinho M. Fut. (F.) 3 0 – – –
Pontal D., Arm I (Crs.) 7 0 – – – Ferreira (2018)
Pontal D., Arm I (F.) 8 0 – – –
Portal D., Beach (Crs.) 5 3 31.7 (21.0–52.0) 14.7 (11.0–21.0) 17.0 (10.0–31.0)
Portal D., Beach (F.) 1 3 46.3(37.0–60.0) 22.3 (21.0–24.0) 24.0 (13.0–31.0)
Forquilha I D. (F.) 2 2 39.1 (24.5–53.7) 25.2 (17.9–32.4) 14.0 (6.6–21.3) Miranda (2018)
Serra Azul M. (Crs.) 2 0 – – – Mohallem (2018)
Serra Azul M. (F.) 0 2 20.0 (18.1–21.9) 13.6 (12.3–14.9) 6.4 (5.7–7.0)
Feijão D. I Hist. (Crs.) 15 0 – – – Robertson et al. (2019)
Feijão D. I Hist. (F.) 25 5 22.2 (18.0–30.0) 16.8 (14.0–23.0) 5.2 (4.0–7.0)
Feijão D. I (Crs.) 12 0 – – –
Feijão D. I (F.) 0 2 21.0 (19.0–22.0) 17.0 (16.0–18.0) 4.0 (3.0–4.0)
Feijão D. I (Slm.) 0 15 43.0 (15.0–53.0) 25.4 (11.0–31.0) 17.7 (4.0–26.0)
NP non plastic, Pl plastic. LL liquid limit, PL plastic limit, PI plasticity index, D dam, Un Unidentified, Crs coarse, Slm slime, M
mine, Strd Stored tailings, Fut future storage, Hist historical data, F fine

central portion of the curve, indicating some particle 4.2 Specific Gravity

breakage due to dynamic compaction. On the other
hand, UFV—Post-hydraulic conductivity test samples
did not show a significant difference from the UFV
sample, indicating that samples compacted statically
(with a press) did not significantly evolve.
Additionally, the tailings studied in this research
are within the limits defined in 0 for the QF iron ore
tailings (Fig. 4). The grain size curves of the studied
material are very similar to the upper limit of the sam-
ples of fine tailings of Feijão Dam I tested by Robert-
son et al. (2019). The values of ­Cu, and ­Cc are in the
one standard deviation range of the QF fine tailings
(Table  9) indicating that curves have similar shapes.
The high values of ­Cu and ­Cc are a consequence of
the tail of fines shown by the curves, likewise the
other tailings from the Quadrilátero Ferrífero. There-
fore, the material could also be classified as relatively
poorly graded instead of well-graded.
Specific gravity was determined on three sam-
ples: UFV ­ (Gs = 3.218  g/cm3), FEUP—Sam-
ple A ­ (Gs = 3.184  g/cm3), and FEUP—Sample B
­(Gs = 3.213  g/cm3). These values were consistent
with each other and the literature, with an average
of 3.205  g/cm3. The specific gravity of the analysed
tailings is considerably close to the average value of
QF fine tailings (­Gs = 3.59  g/cm3) presented in sub-
section 3.2 when compared to the range of variation
(2.66–5.14). Moreover, this value is consistent with
the samples in Table 4 with low iron content.
4.3 Atterberg Limits
As with most iron ore tailings displayed in Table  5,
the plasticity and liquid limit tests indicated that the
studied tailings are non-plastic. Following the Unified

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Table 6  Maximum dry unit weight and optimum water content of the QF iron ore tailings
Tailing wopt (%) γd,max (kN/m3) Reference

Forquilha III D. (Crs.) 11.0 (9.3–12.1) 23.13 (20.47–25.56) Dornas (2008)

Feijão D. I (Crs.) 18.2 (16.1–19.9) 22.22 (20.68–23.27) Silva (2010)
Feijão D. I (F.) 17.9 (16.1–19.7) 22.01 (21.50–22.51)
Brucutu M. flotation + magnetic C. (Crs.) 10.8 18.95 Silva et al. (2013)
Timbopeba M. flotation (Crs.) 11.3 18.75
Conceição M. flotation (Crs.) 13.8 17.75
Vargem Grande M. flotation (F.) 14.6 17.39
Pico M. Flotation (F.) 12.5 18.50
Fabrica M. underflow (F.) 13.3 17.65
Itatiaiuçu D. (F.) 12.4 (11.9–12.9) 21.83 (21.58–22.07) Silva (2014)
Germano D., B3 (Crs.) 14.1 17.50 Ferreira (2016)
Germano D., B3 (Slm.) 16.3 21.90
Fundão D. (Crs.) modified proctor* 13.1 17.84 Morgenstern et al. (2016)
Fundão D. (Slm.) 16.7 22.56
SD-02 stack (F.) 7.2 (6.2–9.2) 19.21 (17.71–20.79) Carvalho (2017)
Fernandinho M. future tailings (F.) 21.2 19.57
Pontal D. Arm I (Crs.) 11.2 (10.3–12.4) 21.18 (18.56–22.56) Ferreira (2018)
Pontal D. Arm I (F.) 10.2 (9.0–11.4) 21.91 (20.75–22.81)
Portal D. Beach (Crs.) 10.4 (5.3–14.7) 20.77 (19.91–22.17)
Portal D. Beach (F.) 12.3 22.17
Serra Azul M. (F.) 12.8 21.66 Mohallem (2018)
*
 Value not used to calculate the averages on Table 3. wopt optimum water content, γd,max maximum dry unit weight, D dam, C con-
centration, M mine, Crs coarse, F fine, Slm slime

Soil Classification System (USCS), explained in the
ASTM D2487:2017, the material is classified as silt
or silt with sand, depending on the grain size distribu-
tion curve.
4.4 Maximum and Minimum Void Ratios
fine tailings of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero ­(emin = 0.67
and ­emax = 1.31), but they are into the one standard
deviation range of the sets.
4.5 Maximum Dry Unit Weight and Optimum Water
Content

With an average water content of 0.66%, the sample
dried at room temperature presented e­ min = 0.60 and
­emax = 1.18, and respective γd,max = 19.70 kN/m3 and
γd,min = 14.46 kN/m3. The maximum dry unit weight
is lower than γd,max = 20.71 kN/m3 and γd,max = 21.05
kN/m3 obtained after the standard Proctor tests pre-
sented in 0, but still compatible with them. The slight
variation of γd,max is partially explained by the fines
content increase identified after the standard Proctor
test, indicating some particle breakage (see 0), which
results in the rearrangement of the material. The bro-
ken particles tend to fill the voids resulting in higher
dry unit weights. The e­min and e­max are a little bit
lower than the average values found in Table 3 for the
The dry unit weight-water content curves defined
after the standard Proctor tests performed at LMS-
UFV and LabGeo-FEUP are plotted in Fig.  4.
In both curves, the optimum water content was
­wopt = 11.7%, and the maximum dry unit weight pre-
sented a small variation (γd,max)FEUP = 20.71 kN/m3
and (γd,max)UFV = 21.05 kN/m3. The divergence of the
values of dry unit weight found at UFV and FEUP
may be associated with the variability of the sam-
ples or the intensity of particle breakage in each test.
Compared to the parameters presented in Table 3, the
values of ­wopt. and γd,max are into the one standard
deviation range of the QF fine tailings, which means
that the values are considerably close to the average

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Table 7  Average hydraulic conductivity of the QF iron ore tailings

Tailing Test type σ’v (kPa) e k (m/s) Reference

Monjolo Dump R. (Crs.) R.W.P. C-H – 0.67–0.62 4.77 × ­10−5 Santos (2004)

– 0.77–0.70 8.94 × ­10−5
– 0.86–0.81 9.45 × ­10−5
– 0.98–0.91 6.00 × ­10−5
Monjolo Dump U. (Crs.) F.P. C-H – 0.86–0.79 8.86 × ­10−5
Monjolo Dump In Situ (Crs.) Borehole C-H – 0.86–0.79 1.45 × ­10−4
G.P. 2 Height – 0.86–0.79 1.17 × ­10−4
G.P. 2 + Height – 0.86–0.79 7.16 × ­10−5
G.P. 1 Height – 0.86–0.79 8.94 × ­10−5
Forquilha III D. R. (Un.) Oedometer –  < 0.70 4.58 × ­10−7 Dornas (2008)
Pontal D. Und. R. (Crs.) F.P. C-H – 0.86–0.80 1.04 × ­10−5 Alves (2009)
Pontal D. CB3 R. (Crs.) – 0.84–0.75 1.50 × ­10−6
Pontal D. Ovr. R. (F.) – 1.10–0.80 3.35 × ­10−8
Fundão D. U. (Crs.) R.W.P.C-H – – 3.72 × ­10−6 Rezende (2013)
Oedometer 12.5–3200 0.76–0.45 2.84 × ­10−6
25–3200 1.33–0.79 2.31 × ­10−6
100–3200 0.65–0.52 3.54 × ­10−6
F.W.P. C-H 75–600 – 6.88 × ­10−6
Fundão D. R. (Crs.) Oedometer 6.3–100 0.86–0.82 1.32 × ­10−8 Morgenstern et al. (2016)
25–300 0.82–0.79 1.68 × ­10−9
50–600 0.79–0.77 4.35 × ­10−10
50–3200 0.77–0.70 1.15 × ­10−10
Fundão D. R. (Slm.) Oedometer 2–1024 1.05–0.73 2.49 × ­10−9
L.S.C 0.4–1000 2.61–0.83 2.26 × ­10−8
Fernandinho M. Fut. R. (Crs.) R.W.P. F–H 0–800 e0 = 0.80 7.45 × ­10−7 Carvalho (2017)
Oedometer 200–800 0.71–0.66 2.10 × ­10−6
Fernandinho M. Fut. R. (F.) R.W.P. F–H 0–800 e0 = 0.82 4.68 × ­10−7
Oedometer 100–400 0.78–0.75 1.55 × ­10−8
Pontal D. Beach R. (Crs.) F.W.P. C-H – 1.25 3.47 × ­10−5 Ferreira (2018)
– 0.66–0.56 5.08 × ­10−8
Pontal D. Beach R. (F.) F.W.P. C-H – 1.53–1.39 5.36 × ­10−5
– 0.60 7.85 × ­10−8
Forquilha I D. R. (Crs.) F.W.P. F–H – 0.84–0.65 1.82 × ­10−6 Miranda (2018)
Forquilha I D. U. (F.) – 1.01–0.88 6.55 × ­10−9
Serra Azul M. R. (Crs.) F.W.P. F–H – 0.87–0.84 1.25 × ­10−6 Mohallem (2018)
Serra Azul M. R. (F.) – 0.81 4.20 × ­10−8
Feijão D. I Berm Fill (Crs.) G.P. 1 Height – 0.86–0.70 3.55 × ­10−5 Robertson et al. (2019)
Feijão D. I (F.) – 1.33–0.95 6.95 × ­10−6
Feijão D. I (Slm.) – 1.62–1.15 1.08 × ­10−6

σ’v effective vertical stress, e void ratio, k hydraulic conductivity, R remolded, R.W.P rigid wall permeameter, C-H constant head,
U. undisturbed, F.P. flow pump, G.P Guelph permeameter, D dam, Ovr Overflow, Und underflow, F.W.P. flexible wall permeameter,
Crs coarse, Un Unidentified, F fine, Slm slime, L.S.C. large strain consolidation, M mine, Fut future storage, F–H falling head

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Table 8  Main characteristics of the grain size distribution curves

Sample D50 (mm) CU Cc Percent fines < 0.075 mm

FEUP—A 0.044 48.6 8.2 85.2

FEUP—A—Proctor 0.020 24.2 7.0 84.7
FEUP—B 0.026 15.4 7.2 83.0
UFV 0.037 28.8 5.6 89.6
UFV—Post-H.C. test 0.035 (0.034–.037) 34.9 (27.4–45.5) 6.1 (4.9–8.5) 91.7 (87.7–94.0)

D50 mean grain size, Cu coefficient of uniformity, Cc coefficient of curvature, Post-H.C post hydraulic conductivity test

Fig. 4  Field tests results (γd and w) plotted with dry unit

Fig. 3  Grain size distribution curves of the studied sample
values obtained in the literature (­wopt = 13.4% and
γd,max = 20.2 kN/m3).
According to Crystal et  al. (2018), materials with
S higher than 85% are likely to behave as saturated
in a dry stack. However, with degrees of compac-
tion higher than 90% of standard Proctor, no samples
(FEUP and UFV) presented degrees of saturation (S)
above this reference. Even though the material does
not reach S = 85%, it is close to reaching saturation,
and water infiltration must be prevented at all costs
when compacting wet of optimum. Additionally,
when stacking the tailings, if the deposited tailings
are compressible, as they are gradually loaded, the
material will tend to consolidate, extruding the air
existing in the internal voids, reducing the void ratio,
and increasing saturation (Lupo and Hall 2011).
weight–water content and saturation curves of the studied sam-
ple. The saturation curves were defined after the average spe-
cific gravity, ­Gs = 3.205 kg/m3
4.6 Field Tests
The standard Proctor tests performed in the field
exhibited average ­wopt and γd,max similar to those
found in this research (Table  9). The one stand-
ard deviation range indicated a high concentra-
tion of values between γd,max = 20.33 kN/m3 and
γd,max = 22.13 kN/m3, and w ­ opt between 11% and
12.6%. However, the maximum and minimum val-
ues diverge significantly from the average. Two
samples have even shown pairs of values ­ (wopt,
γd,max) above the zero air voids curve (S = 100%),
just as the other 42 pairs of values determined
in the field tests (Fig.  4). These results suggest

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Table 9  Statistics of standard Proctor and field tests performed by the mining company
Statistics γd,max (kN/m3) wopt (%) γd,field (kN/m3) wfield (%) DC (%) wdev. (%)

Avg 21.2 11.8 21.0 13.3 99.4 1.50

Stdev 0.90 0.80 1.09 1.90 4.30 1.90
Max 22.9 14.0 23.5 21.4 115 10.2
Min 18.6 10.3 17.8 9.40 87.3  − 2.90
γd,max maximum dry unit weight, wopt optimum water content. γd,field dry unit weight of embankment. wfield water content of embank-
ment. DC degree of compaction, wdev. water content deviation, Avg average, Stdev Standard deviation, Max maximum value, Min
minimum value

considerable variability in the characteristics of the The variability of the tailings requires not only the
tailings in some portions of the trial embankment. constant characterization of the material but also the
Taking the FEUP and UFV curves as references, adjustment of the specifications for stacking it. This
the average water content of the field samples in dynamic may not be easily implemented in large-
Table 9, ­wfield = 13.3%, is equivalent to DC between scale production, so the impact of the tailings’ varia-
95 and 97%. The average dry unit weight of the bility in the dry stack behaviour should be minimized.
field samples, γd,field = 21.0 kN/m3 is equivalent to Stabilization of mining tailings with different binding
DC = 98.9%, adopting the average γd,max = 21.2 kN/ agents has been studied (Barati et  al. 2020; Bruschi
m3 as reference. Moreover, 82% of the field samples et al. 2021; Pereira dos Santos et al. 2022; Servi et al.
indicate compaction wet of optimum. Of the 218 2022) and should become an attractive alternative to
field tests, 78 show a degree of compaction higher overcome the impact of tailings variability in large
than 100% of standard Proctor and, from these 78 scale dry stacks.
tests, 64 show water content above the optimum.
There is no significant divergence of the values of 4.7 Hydraulic Conductivity
γd and w when comparing the sampling position—
top or bottom of the layer—in Fig.  4. It suggests The void ratios of the specimens varied from 0.64
that the same degree of compaction was achieved at to 0.47 under different degrees of compaction and
the top and the bottom of the layers indicating that confining stresses. Figure  5 shows that permeability
the compaction energy was adequate. decreases with the reduction of the void ratio. The
The samples on the top of the chart (Fig. 4) have specimens compacted with higher void ratios—lower
pairs of dry unit weight and water content higher
than the maximum dry unit weight and optimum
water content of the standard Proctors of reference.
A homogeneous material could never achieve a state
of DC > 100% compacted wet of optimum, even if
compacted with higher energy. These results firmly
indicate variability of the material in the field, and
a unique sample is not enough to define the behav-
iour of the dry stack. The macro-scale behaviour
of the tailings is strongly dependent on the micro-
scale interparticle contact, which is affected by the
morphology (shape, size and surface roughness and
fabric) and elastic characteristics of the tailings’
particles (Sandeep and Senetakis 2019; Nardelli and
Coop 2019; Ren et  al. 2021). Therefore, the varia-
bility of the tailings composition directly affects the
mechanical behaviour of a dry stack.
Fig. 5  Hydraulic conductivity against void ratio

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degrees of compaction—showed higher hydrau-
lic conductivities, except those tested at 10  kPa of
confining stress, which presented almost the same
permeability.
The KC equation curve in Fig.  5 was determined
adopting the average specific gravity (­Gs = 3.205  g/
m3) and the specific surface (­Sp = 402.44 ­m2/kg)
determined from the average grain size distribu-
tion curve of the UFV—Post-hydraulic conductivity
test samples displayed in 0 following the method of
Chapuis & Légaré (1992). The trend defined by the
KC equation (Eq. 1) is not adherent to the results of
the tests. The measured hydraulic conductivities and
reduction rate are higher than those determined by the
KC equation. It indicates that the studied tailings, in
the studied range of void ratios, are more sensitive to
void ratio reduction than the materials used to formu-
late the KC equation.
Comparing the highest (4.10 × ­10−7  m/s) and the
lowest (6.23 × ­10−8  m/s) values, the factor of reduc-
tion of the hydraulic conductivity with decreasing
void ratio is about 6.6 times. This rate is higher than
the maximum expected reduction factor stated by
Vick (1990) for coarse tailings (5 times) and lower
than the maximum reduction factor for slimes (10
times). Thus, the value is consistent with the material,
since it is classified as fine tailing composed predomi-
nantly of silt size particles.
After constant-head tests in flexible wall permeam-
eter, Ferreira (2018) found k = 7.85 × ­10−8 for a sam-
ple of non-plastic fine tailings with e = 0.60 (Table 7).
Compared to the studied tailings, the hydraulic con-
ductivity is 2.3 times lower than the value defined
by the lower boundary in Fig. 5 (k = 1.83 × ­10−7) and
5.8 times lower than the value defined by the average
trend line (k = 4.58 × ­10−7) for the same void ratio.
The value determined by Ferreira (2018) is 3.4 times
higher than the value predicted by the KC equation
(k = 2.31 × ­10−8), so it is closer to the lower boundary
defined in Fig. 5.
5 Conclusions
The studied tailings exhibited characteristics consist-
ent with some other iron ore tailings of the Quadri-
látero Ferrífero. The grain size distribution curves of
the samples compacted statically did not show signifi-
cant divergence from the initial sample. Nonetheless,
the dynamically compacted specimen showed a fines
content increase in the central portion of the curve. It
indicates the evolution of the grain size distribution
due to dynamic compaction, but not static. The stand-
ard Proctor tests done for quality control of the trial
embankment showed that the field samples converged
to average values of optimum water content and max-
imum dry unit weight close to those found at labora-
tory tests. However, some samples showed consider-
able variation. Variability of both material properties
and degree of compaction was identified in the trial
embankment. Therefore, mapping the tailings’ varia-
tions is essential to stack the material in an adequate
initial state. The main variations of the material must
be characterized, and the proper degree of compac-
tion and optimum water content must be specified for
each of them. The higher the degree of compaction,
the lower the hydraulic conductivity. The hydraulic
conductivity determined after the constant head tests
were proportional to the void ratio of each specimen.
For the studied range of void ratios, k varied from
6.23 × ­10−8  m/s to 4.10 × ­10−7  m/s, a reduction fac-
tor of approximately 6,6 times. The k measured was
higher than that predicted by the KC equation, and
the material showed to be more sensitive to the void
ratio variation for the studied range.
The data presented in section  3 is a literature
review of results found by different authors for dif-
ferent iron ore tailings of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero.
The data survey had the objective of compilating
the physical properties and trying to identify trends.
The properties showed variability, but samples with
similar index properties were also identified. Some
properties, such as maximum and minimum void
ratios and hydraulic conductivity, are more sensi-
tive to the methodology adopted for their measure-
ment and showed higher variability. All properties
presented must be carefully analysed together, and
variability must be accounted for when using them as
references. For a 200 m high dry stack with an aver-
age bulk unit weight of 23,5 kN/m3 (based on w ­ opt.
and γd,max defined in subsection  4.5), the confining
stresses in the base of the stack exceed the maximum
confining stress of 1.900 kPa adopted in the hydraulic
conductivity tests. Higher confining stresses could not
have been adopted due to the stress limitation of the
equipment. As further research, it is proposed to eval-
uate the void ratio and hydraulic conductivity reduc-
tion with higher confining stresses. Additionally, it
Vol.: (0123456789)
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is proposed to evaluate the deposition, layering, and
microstructure formation in TSFs; the impact of the
confining stresses, and variability of degree of com-
paction in the mechanical behaviour of the tailings;
the impact of stabilization techniques in the mechani-
cal and hydraulic behaviour of the tailings, and the
numerical modelling of the dry stacking with ade-
quate constitutive models.
Acknowledgements  The authors are very grateful to the Fed-
eral University of Viçosa, the Faculty of Engineering of the
University of Porto and the CONSTRUCT – Institute of R&D
in Structures and Construction, Portugal, and the mining com-
pany for the technical support to the development of this study.
Author Contributions  JC: Conceptualization, Data curation,
Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing—original
draft. EM: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervi-
sion, Project administration, Writing—review & editing. AVF:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing—
review & editing. RF: Supervision, Investigation, Validation.
ÂC Investigation, Data curation.
Funding  The study was partially funded by the Coordenação
de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior  —  Brasil
(CAPES) — Finance Code 001. Open access funding provided
by FCT|FCCN (b-on).
Data Availability  Enquiries about data availability should be
directed to the authors.
Declarations  Crystal C, Hore C, Ezama I (2018) Filter-pressed dry stack-
Conflict of interest  The authors have no conflicts of inter-
est to declare. All co-authors have observed and affirmed the
contents of the paper and there is no financial interest to report.
Open Access  This article is licensed under a Creative Com-
mons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits
use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any
medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Crea-
tive Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The
images or other third party material in this article are included
in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your
intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds
the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly
from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit
http://​creat​iveco​mmons.​org/​licen​ses/​by/4.​0/.
Vol:. (1234567890)
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