Mechanics and safety issues in tailing-based backfill: A review
- PDF / 1,012,959 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 592.8 x 841.98 pts Page_size
- 57 Downloads / 227 Views
ited Review
Mechanics and safety issues in tailing-based backfill: A review Xu Zhao 1), Andy Fourie 1), and Chong-chong Qi 2) 1) School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia 2) School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China (Received: 17 October 2019; revised: 2 February 2020; accepted: 10 February 2020)
Abstract: Voids (referred to as “stopes”) are generally created during underground mining activities and can lead to both local and regional geotechnical instabilities. To assist in managing the stability of mining-related voids and improving the recovery of orebodies, tailing-based backfill technology has been widely used around the world. In the design of tailing-based backfill strategy, the specific function and engineering requirements of the filling are intimately dependent on the stress distribution within the backfilled stope. In this paper, the main mechanics involved in tailing-based backfill in underground mines, which include arching, consolidation, hydration process, and movement of surrounding rocks, are reviewed. Research on the safety of a barricade and stability of an exposed fill face are also presented. In conclusion, the backfilling process should be performed on the basis of a better understanding of the complicated interactions of the mechanisms of filling, consolidation, and hydration process (when cement is added). Keywords: tailing-based backfill; arching; consolidation; barricade; safety
1. Introduction Extracting valuable minerals from the earth’s crust is the essence of mining [1]. Mining activities generally result in the creation of voids. Referred to as stopes, these voids vary in size but can be as large as 30 m × 30 m in plan dimensions and more than 100 m tall, leading to various environmental impacts, such as ground surface settlement on both local and regional scales [2‒3]. To maintain geotechnical stability, significant pillars of valuable ore must be left between stopes, which can significantly reduce the quantity of ore recovered [4]. To assist in managing the stability of mining-related voids and improving the recovery of orebodies, backfilling has been widely used in many mined stopes [5‒6]. The types of fill applied and their specific functions and engineering requirements are intimately dependent on the mining methods, mining strategies, and mining sequences. The main types of mine backfilling include hydraulic fill, in which high-density slurry is delivered through boreholes and pipelines to the underground workings; paste backfill, which is generated from full-stream tailings and is now a widely accepted alternative means of mine backfilling; and rock fill, which economically uses waste rock generated from mining operations as the main component of the fill material.
This paper mainly focuses on tailing-based backfill, which includes both hydraulic fill and paste backfill. A key advantage of tailing-ba
Data Loading...
