Tailing Storage Facilities with Cemented Berms for Sustainable Production of Raw Materials

This paper presents the geotechnical characterization of a mine iron tailings from Minas Gerais, Brazil, which has revealed liquefaction potential. Toward the deposition of this material in dry stack piles (massive embankments of filtered tailings), a ground improvement solution was studied. The proposed approach is to build structural zones with cemented filtered tailings capable of containing the possible liquefaction failure of the instable material. To avoid the use of Portland cement (OPC) which has a significant carbon footprint, an alternative binder was studied made by the alkaline activation of industrial by-products. To evaluate the efficiency of these berms to contain the eventual liquefaction of the non-stabilized material, limit equilibrium analyses were performed. Analysis with different berm widths and different strength parameters of the cemented material provided the identification of the most favorable design cases.