Tailings dry discharge technology dehydrates tailings slurry to a low moisture content, enabling dry storage or reuse, reducing land occupation and hidden dangers; backfilling of mined-out areas eliminates safety hazards and saves reclamation costs; valuable components are recycled, turning waste into treasure and improving resource utilization; tailings are used to make building materials to replace natural sand and gravel, protecting resources; environmental restoration improves soil and restores the mining area ecology.

Tailings dry discharge technology

○ Objective: Dehydrate tailings slurry to a low moisture content (usually ≤18%) to achieve dry storage or reuse, reducing the land occupation and safety hazards of tailings ponds.

○ Environmental protection and saving advantages:

■ Save on tailings pond construction and maintenance costs;

■ Recycled water can be reused to reduce water consumption;

■ Dry-drained tailings can be used as building materials, roadbed materials, etc., realizing resource recycling.

○ Supporting equipment:

■ Thickening equipment: thickener (high-efficiency thickener, inclined tube thickener), cyclone;

■ Dehydration equipment: dehydration vibrating screen, filter press (chamber filter press, diaphragm filter press), belt filter, ceramic filter;

■ Combined process equipment: cyclone + thickener + dewatering screen (third generation dewatering process, low cost and high efficiency).

○ Applicable scenarios: scenarios where dewatering of fine-grained tailings is difficult, such as in iron ore and gold mines.

Backfilling and goaf management

○ Goal: Backfill tailings into mine voids or landfill sites to reduce stockpiling and land occupation.

○ Environmental protection and saving advantages:

■ Eliminate safety hazards in mined-out areas and save land reclamation costs;

■ Some tailings can be solidified and used as foundation material, reducing the mining of new materials.

○ Supporting equipment:

■ Crushing equipment: jaw crusher, cone crusher (to refine tailings particles and enhance backfill density);

■ Conveying equipment: belt conveyor, pumping equipment;

■ Curing equipment (optional): stirring equipment, curing agent adding system.

○ Applicable scenarios: backfilling of empty areas after mining and open-pit mine management.

Recycling of valuable components

○ Objective: To extract metal and non-metal components (such as iron, copper, quartz, fluorite, etc.) from tailings through sorting technology, turning waste into treasure.

○ Environmental protection and saving advantages:

■ Improve resource utilization and reduce secondary mining;

■ Reduce tailings discharge and reduce pollution.

○ Supporting equipment:

■ Magnetic separation equipment: wet/dry magnetic separator (recovery of magnetic minerals);

■ Flotation equipment: Flotation machine (separation of non-metallic minerals);

■ Gravity sorting equipment: shaking table, spiral sorting machine;

■ Crushing and screening equipment (pre-treatment): impact crusher, drum screen.

○ Applicable scenarios: Tailings contain mineral components with recoverable value.

Tailings used to make building materials

○ Goal: Process tailings into cement admixtures, concrete aggregates, ceramic raw materials, glass-ceramics, etc.

○ Environmental protection and saving advantages:

■ Replace natural sand and gravel to protect natural resources;

■ Reduce tailings storage and lower environmental burden.

○ Supporting equipment:

■ Grinding equipment: ball mill, vertical mill (for producing fine powder);

■ Molding equipment: brick presses, brick production lines (for the production of building materials);

■ Firing equipment (eg for ceramic or glass production): kilns.

○ Applicable scenarios: Tailings composition meets the requirements for building materials production (such as SiO and CaO content meet the standards).

Environmental restoration and ecological management

○ Objective: Use tailings to improve soil and restore the mining area ecology.

○ Environmental protection and saving advantages:

■ Neutralize acidic soil, absorb heavy metals and improve soil quality;

■ Planting vegetation can restore the ecology of mining areas and reduce soil erosion.

○ Supporting methods:

■ Use tailings as soil conditioners, mixed with organic materials;

■ Construct a vegetation growth matrix layer to cover the tailings dump.

○ Auxiliary equipment: mixing equipment, sprayer.