Modeling the percentage of solids in bauxite mining tailings using geoprocessing

Abstract

Linked to important pillars of the Brazilian economy, studies related to mining and the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have been gaining ground in recent years, especially related to the geotechnics of dams and precision agriculture. However, the interdisciplinarity needed to carry out more robust analyses are still lacking in some areas, which brings up good opportunities to be explored. In this sense, the present study combined products obtained through different activities and methodologies, aiming at a solution that provides predictability to the mining dam management process, specifically linked to modeling and obtaining data on solid content in the tailings, arising from the processing of bauxite, based on geoprocessing. The activities necessary to achieve the sought objectives covered, briefly: 2021 tailings sampling campaign carried out in the Plateau Disposal System (RP1), laboratory analyses (humidity), aerial survey with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), geoprocessing for the extraction of luminosity values of images and statistical analysis of dispersion. As a result, it was observed that the increase in the number of drying cracks (highlighted in the images by dark pixels) is directly related to the drying of the waste (increase in the percentage of solids), whose quadratic model presents an excellent relationship between the values of the pixels in the images and percentage of solids from laboratory data, implying a determination coefficient of 91.74%. Furthermore, gains in security, predictability and economy for the processes stand out, when compared to the traditional methods applied, in addition to an excellent potential to be developed in future studies.

Keywords:
dams; UAV; drying cracks; predictability