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Dry Stack Tailings
Dry Stack Tailings
Dry Stack Tailings
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– A CASE STUDY
Abstract Dictionary doesn’t help us; at least not yet. What is clear
is that paste underflow from a high density thickener is
This paper presents a simple solution for dry stack not considered “dry stack” material; with the possible
tailings without the use of an expensive filtration stage. exception of few creative paste thickener sales efforts.
The concept involves well proven paste technology and
an inexpensive, widely applicable air-drying scheme to Certainly the argument can be made that a primary
permit bulk handling of the tailings using mobile goal of dry stacking is to minimize free water in the
equipment or traditional conveyors. A case study is tailings. Paste and thickened tails accomplish that goal
addressed where the approach was planned and is quite effectively. They do however produce a non-
feasible. Low-risk tailings management need not be Newtonian slurry that can be pumped, and transporting
horrendously expensive. paste thickener underflow via truck or conveyor belt is
more challenging than with filtered tails. Of course few, if
any, installations outside of our case study have
Introduction considered relocating a stack after it has dried.
We begin by acknowledging that our title is a bold Leaning on the definition of dry stacking as “tailings
claim and further concede that our proposition is not a that cannot be pumped”, we present a case study in which
solution for every site. However, as the case study thickened tails are air dried to where they may be easily
illustrates, air-drying of paste or thickened tails is a viable relocated using bulk handling equipment. The method
option for dry stacking. requires low capital expenditure (CAPEX) and
operational expenditure (OPEX), substantially less than
In tailings management, the term “dry stacking” is required by filtration.
most often interpreted as filtered tailings or possibly as
tailings that cannot be pumped (Davies & Rice 2001). Background
While it is not a loosely defined term, there is certainly
flexibility of the meaning since the Merriam-Webster
1
Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Limited (SBPIL) is Figure 2 shows a tower with newly deposited paste
located near Tilda, about 35 km (22 miles) from Raipur, and Figure 3 a second tower where the paste stack has
Chhattisgarh, India. SBPIL’s parent is GOEL Group, a dried.
leading producer of steel, sponge iron, pellets and power
in Chhattisgarh. The Tilda site is an integrated steel
facility producing 1.4 million metric tons per year (1.5
million short tons per year) of iron pellet and 500 tons per
day (551 short tons per day) of sponge. The complex
includes a 16 megawatt power plant. The mill processes
2.0 million metric tons per year (2.2 million short tons per
year) of high and low grade iron ore that results in 60-70
dry metric tons per hour (mT/hr) (66-77 short tons per
hour) of tailings. Original design of the system was to
deal with as much as 150 mT/hr of solids. (Misra, et al,
2016)
2
is on other factors, such as rain events. Further study will sufficient to illustrate the point; operating costs for a filter
be needed to: plant would be much higher than for air-dried tailings.
Determine dry time during the monsoons. Table 1 - Comparative costs based on North American
Optimize the deposition and dry cycle. estimates. (Approximate values only.)
Address the inevitable unintended consequences of a Paste/Air-Dry High-Rate/Filters
new process. Thickener US$1,000,000 US$ 600,000
Dewatering - US$3,000,000
However, SBPIL’s successes in their first year of Installation US$ 400,000 US$4,000,000
operation, coupled with experience at other facilities, Total CAPEX US$1,400,000 US$7,600,000
suggests that their original plans are functionally sound. Est OPEX US$ 120,000/yr US$ 700,000/yr
Capital cost for SBPIL to design, build and install the Qualifiers
entire system was approximately US$700,000. A
thorough study for a filter plant has not been done; but A drawback to air drying thickened tails, as a method
purchase of local pressure filters for the same tonnage for dry stacking, may be the required size of the
would be perhaps US$600,000 to US$900,000. Attendant deposition area. Of course that disadvantage is largely site
filter plant costs for auxiliary equipment, design and dependent. In SBPIL’s case, the area is 3.6 hectares (9
construction are assumed to be another US$1,000,000. So acres); but the old tailings pond was a space readily
using filtration to achieve dry stacking calculates to about available. Deposition methods could be optimized and the
2½ times the CAPEX. Given the accuracy of estimates, a deposition towers, which were designed and built locally,
range of 2-3 times would be more appropriate.1 are an atypical configuration. Addressing those issues
would offset some of the space concerns.
Designing the system around filtered tailings would
likely require some sort of intermediate transport and Perhaps the greatest disadvantage to air drying
storage of filtered solids, where that is not necessary for thickened tails is the loss of process water due to
the air-dried tailings at SBPIL. However, a different air- evaporation. If one considers the SBPIL yield stress curve
dry configuration at another site might also require in Figure 1, and knowing that the planned operating range
intermediate transport and storage; so we will simply was 50-80 Pa, then solids in the thickener underflow
acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to would range 55-62% by weight; or conversely residual
such a complex issue and consider the cost of the filter water would be 45-38%. SBPIL processes 60-70 mT/hr
plant to be the major variable in this analysis. (66-77 sT/hr) of dry solids. As can be seen in Table 2, the
low range estimate of water in the underflow would be 37
Because India is one of the most cost-effective places mT/hr (41 sT/hr) and the high range would be 57 mT/hr
in the world to build such a system, we also deemed it (63 sT/hr).
appropriate to do a CAPEX evaluation for design, build
and construct in North America. Table 1 has the results of
the alternate comparison of a paste thickener circuit
followed by air drying versus a high-rate thickener
followed by filtration.
3
total water and filters could be expected to lose only 1-
15%.
4
Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Ltd. using a WesTech Deep
Bed™ Paste Thickener, Federation Of Indian Mineral
Industries Conference – FIMI-2016