Nowadays the increased tailing volume, generated by the utilzation of minerals with low iron, has been motivating mining companies to adopt the technique hydraulic fill structures with upstream method as the main solution for tailings disposal. This methodology is influenced by the appearance of uncertainties related to the deposition process for the beach and to the tailing that is launched randomly and without control of the discharge variables that influence this process. As such, high iron concentration areas are formed in the dam, tending to influence the geotechnical properties of this material. Thus, the objective was to study tailing behavior in function of the percentage of iron and silica present and to verify their influence in the saturated hydraulic conductivity of this tailing through laboratory and field tests.
Tailings dams; iron content; hydraulic conductivity
