2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590

(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

Study of Gold Mine Tailings Utilization as Fine Aggregate Material for

Producing Mortar Based on Concept of Green Technology
Lilies Widojoko1), Harianto Hardjasaputra2) and Susilowati3)
1&3)
Lecture, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bandar Lampung, Street Natural
ZAPagar No. 26, Bandar Lampung, 35142, Indonesia,
E-mail: 1) labtekniksipil_lw@yahoo.co.id, 3) susilowatirifat@yahoo.co.id
2)
Lecture, University of Pelita Harapan, Karawaci Tangerang, Indonesia,
E-mail:hardja@yahoo.com

Abstract - This study aims to use waste tailings as construction material, which will be a double
impact, which utilize waste material which, if thrown away potentially contaminate the
surrounding environment, and at the same time reducing the need for utilization of nature
material that is sand. This thing address the issue of environmental damage caused by the
disposal waste and at the same time the application of the concept of sustainable development,
that is saving the use of sand as an ingredient in mortar. In the manufacture of mortar, the use
of tailings as much as 25% of the fine aggregate give optimal results in compressive strength of
mortar that is 36 MPa. This study use PCC cement from PT Baturaja, Lampung.

Keywords: Mortar Tailings, Green Technology

1. INTRODUCTION the form of mud into the reservoir,

With the enactment of Law No. 4 of
2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining, which in
principle all minerals in Indonesia will be
treated in this country, causing
consequences which in the future will be
more widely available waste material that is
tailings as a byproduct of mining industry in
Indonesia. The law is limited by the
Minister of Environment Regulation
Number 2 of 2008 on Utilization of
Hazardous and Toxic Waste (B3), where all
the industrial by-products classified as B3
utilization can be done by: (1) reuse, (2)
reduce and (3) recycle .
Tailings were not utilized it will
cause harm. When tailings waste in a dry
state, can fly everywhere as tailings grain is
very fine. It can damage human health and
disrupt agricultur. When tailings disposal in
treatment costs are huge. We have to builts
dam to accommodate the tailings slurry,
environmental pollution due to seepage and
dam maintenance after the mine is closed.
Tailings disposal in the deep sea can pollute
the environment due to the control that is
not easy.
The use of mortar as paving,
plumbing, etc. as construction materials
since the 1960 until now growing rapidly.
Main ingredient of mortar are sand, cement
and water. Due to the many construction
materials that require sand, then use the
sand to rise sharply. Sand excavation on a
large scale can lead to disruption of the
environment.
The above is an issue that needs to be
answered in the application of the concept
of sustainable development that is to meet

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2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

the needs of the present without reducing the effects of environmental

compromising the ability of future damage caused by untreated tailings
generations. disposal and dredging materials such as
Therefore, we need a construction sand. It can be said the use of tailings is one
material that: (1) efficient as possible using concept to lead to what is known green
natural materials, (2) minimize the negative technology (Strategic Development
impact to the environment, (3) high Council, 2008).
performance, (4) utilizing waste materials
Reuse tailings for concrete can reduce the II. LITERATURE STUDY
volume of sand used. Sand is more
Bhatty, 1984 reported that using
expensive price because of its availability
cement that has been produced using
becomes scarcer.
anorthite from copper-nickel tailings and
Tailings are result of broken stone
raw taconite tailings has better strength
waste material deposited during the process
properties thn ordinary Type 1 Portland
of separation of ore from gold, silver and
Cement and gave a stronger condrete when
other metals. Based on gradation, grain
tested under identical curing condition. See
tailings classified types of sand. In the
figure 2.1.
process of mining, milling stones into
powder needed to release metals and
minerals. The finer the grinding, the more
the results obtained. So, the mining industry
produces a large number of fine stone. In
one ton of rock, only a few hundred grams
of metals and minerals are taken, so that the
rest very much. On the Way Linggo mine
project, tailings produced by about 100
Figure 2.1. Development of compressive
thousand tons per year.
strength of concrete made from tailings
Tailings grain size varies from medium to
cement and type 1 Portland cement,
fine fractions. This variation allows adding
Tailing cement, Type 1 Portland cement.
"packing density" mortar, so the use of
tailings potential to raise the strength and Based on the research of Lationo, et
density of mortar. Cai,et all. 2011, at their al. (1997), tailings in Papua (PT Freeport)
research “Effects of Powdery Mill Tailings can be used in the mortar-making process.
from Magnetite on Workability and Tailings can be fastened with cement, but
strength of concrete” conclude that the because the tailings contain magnesium
tailing powder have good filling effect, which can cause cracking of the mortar, it is
makes concrete more compact and the necessary to add chemical admixture in
pozzolanic constituents in micro particle of process research. Based on the research
the tailings contribute to the strength of that has been done by Lationo, et al.,
concrete. mixture composition using 10% cement and
It can be concluded that the urgency of this 90% tailings can reach compressive
study is the use of tailings can contribute to strength of 20 MPa, whereas the

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2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science
composition of 30% cement and 70%
tailings can reach about 30-40 MPa
compressive strength.
Tianhu, S., (2010) conduct an
experiment to compare graphite tailings
concrete and river sand concrete. His
experiment shown that graphite tailing
concrete strength slow formation in first 7
days, strength significantly increases after 7
days to 28 days. The strength slowly
increased trend after 28 days. See Figure
2.2.
Figure 2.1. Curve about the compressive
strength and tailing content
III. METHODOLOGY.
3.1. Research Steps
3.1.1. Physical and chemical characteristics
of the material.
The study began by testing the
physical and chemical properties of the
tailings. Then performed testing the
physical properties of other materials used
are sand, screening and split. Tailings
testing done in accordance with the
objectives of the study. Research of
physical properties conducted in the of Civil
Engineering Laboratory in University of
Bandar Lampung. While the chemical
properties in the several laboratory, those
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ISSN 2301-6590
are (1) PT Natarang Mining, (2) Cement
Laboratory of PT Baturaja, (3) Tekmira
Laboratory, Bandung.
3.1.2. Compressive strength of tailings
mortar.
The next conducted research on the effect
of tailings in mortar. The study was
conducted with the substitute of sand with
sand gradually. To determine the effect of
tailings, one set of specimens made using
100% sand. Furthermore minimize the use
of sand in 25%, while the use of tailings
plus 25%. Compressive strength testing of
concrete held at the age of 7 and 28 days.
3.1.3. Evaluation test results.
Based on the results of 3.1.1 and
3.1.2 above, we evaluated the effect of
tailings on the strength of mortar.
IV. STUDY CHARACTERISTICS AND
AGGREGATE TAILINGS
4.1. General.
Way Linggo tailings dam is a
Tailling Storage Fasilities (TSF), located
near Way Humarabalak – Banjar Agung,
The activity in the Tanggamus region,
Wonosobo district, provincial of Lampung.
It located in the forest in the register 39.
Geographically, the activities are at 104 0
24' 28.5 "- 104 0 25' 17.5" east longitude and
5 0 17' 1 .5 "- 5 0 17' 38.5." south latitude.
See Figure 4.1. Gold mining activities
carried out by the system underground
mine.
The design parameters for the design are as
follows:
2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

a. Average tailings put into reservoir

: 100,000 tons / year
b. Slurry solids percentage : 40%
c. Design life: 4 years
d. Water that has been dumped in the
reservoir is not used / returned to the
processing plant.
e. Dam was built at the same time in full
height.

Figure 4.3 Location map of the dam.

Figure 4.1 Location Map of Way Linggo

TSF

Cross section of dam can be seen in

Figure 4.2. Reservoir is built by using a
dam that cuts a valley located at the
southeast side of plant. See Figure 4.3. The
volume need for a four-year is 4 x 100,000
tons = 400,000 tons. If the density of
tailings is 1.1 ton/m3, then the required
reservoir capacity is 400,000 / 1.1 =
370,000 m3. This dam was built starting
from September 2009 to November 2010.
Tailings current volume has reached about
250 thousand ton. See Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.4 TSF of Way Linggo
4.2. Tailings Testing.
4.2.1. Characteristic of tailings.
Tailings grain size gradation are expressed
in the table can be seen in Table 4.1. Based
on the results of the testing that has been
done, saturated surface dry specific gravity
ranging from 2.48 to 2.86 and loose density
ranging from 1.23 to 1.79 ton/m3
(Widojoko, 2012).
While the physical characteristics of the
tailings which is to make specimens can be
seen in Table 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Cross Section of dam

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2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science
Table 4.1 Gradient of tailings
Source: Report of the Particle Size
Distribution TSF, January 22, 2011, PT
Natarang Mining.
Table 4.2 Characteristics of the tailings are
used for the manufacture of test specimens.
4.2.2.Metal Contents.
Table 4.3 Content of metals in tailings
Source: Report of the Tailings Quality,
January 22, 2011, PT Natarang Mining.
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ISSN 2301-6590
Metal content in tailings can be seen in
Table 4.3. Before tailings thrown into the
reservoir, its was "neutralize" at the factory,
so its presence does not pollute the ground
water.
From testing results, it found that the metal
content meets the quality standard
requirements. Thus, the tailings safe to use
as construction material. Testing conducted
at the Laboratory of Internal Quality
Control PT Natarang.
4.2.3. Oxide Contents.
Oxide content of the tailings can be
seen in Table 4.2. From the table it can be
seen that the highest oxide is SiO2
(90.26%), Al2O3 (5.48%), CaO (1.43%) and
Fe2O3 (0.52%). On cement, four kinds of
oxides are called major oxides.
Testing is done in Cement Laboratory of
PT Baturaja. See Table 4.3..
Table 4.3 Major oxide and Tailings
Modulus
4.2.4. Minerals contents.
Mineral composition are Kuarsa
(SiO2), Kalsit (CaCO3), Nakrit,Kaolinite
2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

(Al2SiO5(OH)4, Anortit (Ca,Na)0.3Al2(Si, Table 4.5. Characteristics of sand used for

Al) 4O10 (OH)2 2.xH2O. the manufacture of test specimens.

Laboratory testing conducted in

Tekmira Laboratory. Image X-ray
diffraction curves (XRD) can be seen in
Figure 4.6.
Table 4.3.and Figure 4.6. show that the
tailings main component is SiO2. Content of
Al2O3 is high, and may not find any sulfur.
From the chemical constituents as
mentioned above, it can be concluded that
the tailings are eligible for mortar
aggregate.
Figure 4.6 X-ray diffraction (XRD) of
tailings.
4.2. Fine aggregate (sand) Testing
Table 4.4 Gradation of Sand
V. DISCUSSION OF TEST RESULTS
The study was conducted with the
substitute of sand with tailings gradually.
To study the effect of tailings, one set of
specimens made using 100% sand.
Furthermore, the use of sand is reduced
25%, while the use of tailings is increased
25%. Aggregate composition, the name of
the sample and test results of 7 days and 28
days can be seen in Table 5.1. The
development of compressive strength from
7 days to 28 days can be seen in Figure 5.1.
Ratio of water and cement used was 0.5.
Table 5.1. Compression strength of tailings
mortar at 7 and 28 days.

Sand grain size grading can be seen in

Table 4.4. While the physical characteristics
of the sand used for the manufacture of test
specimens can be seen in Table 4.5.

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2nd International Conference
ce oon Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung ng
Faculty of Engineering andd F
Faculty of Computer Science

Samples are named accordording to the content While the T25.3 compre pressive strength is
of the tailings. Mortar wit
with 25% content of higher than T25.1 com mpressive strength.
the tailings, is named T255 aand soon. The increase of compres ressive strength that
occurred in the sample with
wi 25% content of
tailings from 7 days to o 282 days, those are
48.0 T25.1, T25.2 and T25.3
25.3 by b 57%, 46% and
43.0 42% (average 49%). The he Indonesian rule,
Compressive strength (MPa)

38.0
Peraturan Beton Bertulangang Indonesia (PBI,
33.0
1971), mention that the t increased of
28.0
compressive strength fromfro 7 days to 28
days is about 35%. So the th the increase of
23.0
MT 25 is more than expres ressed by the rule.
18.0
In mortar using 50%5 tailings those
13.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
are T50.1 dan T50.2, T50.2 T compressive
Age of Mortar (days) strength at the age of 7 daysd is lower than
T25.1 T 50.1 T 25.2 T 50.2 T 75.2 T 25.3 T0.1 T50.1 but at 28 days the opposite
op happens.
Figure 5.1 Development ent of compressive If the average is taken, th the increase in
n, then
strength of tailings mortar
tar from 7 days to 28 compressive strength occurredo in the
tent tailings.
days on a variety of conten tailings mortar samples les containing 50%
tailings, from 7 days to o 282 days by 15.5%
To increase the cononfidence level, the that is from 18.5 MPa to 2 Mpa.
o 21.5
number of the sample le is increased. The In samples using t
ng tailings 75%, only
addition of T 25 sample ple for compressive one set of samples can n be test successfully,
strength test at 7 days are two pieces. For the other sample was broken.
bro This sample
T50 sample, the additionon of sample is one does not produce a worka rkable mix. Increase
piece. The addition off T 25 sample for in compressive strength th occurred in the
compressive strength testest at 28 days are sample with 75% content nt of tailings from 7
sample, the addition
three pieces. For T50 sam days to 28 days by 26%,, from f 21.7 MPa to
es. See Table 5.1.
of sample are four pieces. 27.4 MPa.
Mortar withoutt tailings (T0)
produces 7 day compres ressive strength of Table 5.2 Average compr pressive strength of
15.3 MPa and 14 MPa at 28 days, so it can mortar tailings samples tested
te at the age of
rease.
be said there was no increa 7 days.
Mortar using 25% tailings, that are
T25.1, T25.2 and T25 T25.3, the lowest
compressive strength iss T T25.2 both at the
age of 7 days and att 228 days. This is
because the tailings mo mortar casted in a
ondition so that the
saturated surface dry cond
ratio of water/cement samamples T25.2 is the
highest among other sampl ples of T25.

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2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science
Table 5.3 Average compressive strength of
mortar tailings samples tested at the age of
28 days.
Figure 5.2. Average compressive strength
of tailings mortar at 7 days and 28 days at
various levels of tailings content
Judging from the value of the
resulting compressive strength, 25% content
of tailings produced the highest average
compressive strength is 36.8 MPa. See
Table 5.2, Table 5.3 and Figure 5.2. A
research “Study on the sprayed Concrete
with Iron Tailing” conduct by Liu, (2012)
indicated that the performance of 20% iron
tailing to replace nature sand is the best.
Study by MA.L.,(2012) about Concrete mix
design of Tailings sand and gravel, using
Water/Cement ratio of 0.5, tailing 744kg/m3
, admixture 0.5%, the compressive strength
of concrete can reach 48.3 Mpa.
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ISSN 2301-6590
Tailings the use of 75%, the water-cement
ratio of 0.5 shows an increasing trend, but
the mixture is not workable.
Tailings finer than sand, the surface area of
tailings is more than sand. So water needs to
cover the tailings grains more than required
by the sand.With the same water content,
then there is a shortage of water as a
lubricant, so the mixture is not workable.
VI. Conclusion
Research shows that the use of the
tailings by 25%, has the best result in
compressive strength, both on the
magnitude of increase in compressive
strength from 7 days to 28 days (average
49%), as well as from the value obtained
compressive strength (36.8 MPa).
From the test results, is obtained that
the metal content qualify the standards.
There are not any cyanide. Thus, tailings is
safe as construction material.
Oxide test results showed that the main
component of tailings is SiO2. The content
of Al 2O3 is high, but there are not any
sulfur. From the chemical constituents as
mentioned above, it can be concluded that
the tailings are eligible for mortar
aggregate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research was funded by Directorate
General of Higher Education, Ministry of
National Education and Culture of the
Republic of Indonesia , in Competitive
Research Grants for fiscal year 2013. The
support of Cement Laboratory of PT
Baturaja, Coordinator of Kopertis
Wilayah-2, and Rector of University of
Bandar Lampung are gratefully
acknowledged.
2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

REFERENCES Semen Baturaja, (2012) Observation

data of Cement Laboratory, Baturaja.
Bhatty, JI.Marijnissen, J., Reid, K.J.
(1985) Portland Cement Production Using Strategic Development Council, (2008)
Mineral Wastes, Cement and Concrete Concrete Sustainability, A Vision for
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North America
Cai. J., Wu.J.,Lu.Z., Gao.G (2012)
Effects of Powdery Mill Tailings from Tekmira, (2012) Certificate of Analysis no
Magnetite on Workability and strength of 1603/LFM/XI/2012, Bandung.
concrete, Key Engineering Materials
Journal, Vol 477 (2011), pp 233-238. Widojoko, L., (2012), Physical
properties of gold mine tailings on the Way
Direktorat Penyelidikan Masalah Linggo, Tanggamus district, Lampung
Bangunan, (1971) Peraturan Beton province, Tailling Physical Research
Bertulang Indonesia, Departemen Pekerjaan Report, Laboratory of the Faculty of
Umum, Indonesia. Engineering, University of Bandar
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Lationo, B., Suraatmaja, D., &Munar,
1998, Copper TaillingAs Partial substitution
materials for Cement Concrete Materials.
www.wikimedia.com

Liu, W., Xu,X., An. Y., (2012) Study

on the sprayed Concrete with Iron Tailing ,
Advanced Material Research Journal, Vol
347-353(2012) pp 1939-1943.

Ma.L., Zhang.L., Zhang.J., (2012) The

Research on Concrete mix design of
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Material Research Journal Vols 468-
471(2012) pp 1308-1312.

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Taillings Quality, January 22, 2011

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the Particle Size Distribution TSF

Tianhu, S.,Jingcheng, R., (2010), The

Study of Foam Concrete Made by Graphite
Ore Tailings, Shandong: Shandong
University of Technology, China

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2nd International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development ISSN 2301-6590
(ICETD 2013)
Universitas Bandar Lampung
Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Computer Science

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