An analytical solution to estimate the settlement of tailings or backfill slurry by considering the sedimentation and consolidation

Abstract

Abstract A common and important task in mining industry is to estimate the settlement or final volume of the tailings or backfill associated with sedimentation and self-weight consolidation. Up to now however, most existing analytical solutions were developed by only considering the settlement induced by consolidation. In this paper, the process of shrinkage tests has been compared with those of sedimentation and consolidation. It was shown that the pore water and particles movement in the sedimentation are very similar to that in the normal shrinkage. The void ratio at the end of sedimentation is thus for the first time considered to be equal to the void ratio at desaturation onset of shrinkage tests. An analytical solution was then proposed to estimate the settlement of tailings or backfill by considering the sedimentation and consolidation. To validate the proposed analytical solution, tailing deposition tests were conducted in two molds to simulate the tailings impoundment and underground mine stope. The required parameters were obtained through shrinkage and consolidation tests. Good agreements were obtained between the measured settlements and those calculated by the proposed solution. The proposed solution can thus be considered as validated and used to evaluate the settlement of tailings or backfill slurry.