BHP and Rio Tinto to collaborate on new tailings technology
October 30 2022 - 10:20PM
Business Wire
Global miners BHP and Rio Tinto have formed a partnership
agreement to accelerate the development of technology that could
significantly increase water recovery from mine tailings, and in
turn reduce potential safety risks and environmental footprints
associated with tailings storage facilities.
The first project will involve testing the application of an
innovative large-volume filter unit at a BHP copper mine in Chile,
which would remove up to 80% of the water in the tailings stream
before it is deposited in a storage facility.
Rio Tinto will bring its experience from implementing
smaller-scale tailings filters for bauxite residues at alumina
refineries since 2005. Both organisations will work in
collaboration with leading technology and equipment providers,
technical experts, research groups and the academic sector.
Manufacture of the filter unit is already underway. The pilot
construction is due to begin in early 2023 and operations are
scheduled to commence in early 2024. The pilot will test the
potential of a large-scale tailings filter unit for scalability and
cost-effectiveness across global mining operations.
Removing more water from tailings would reduce potential risks
associated with moisture in storage facilities, reduce the
footprint required by such facilities, and create opportunities to
productively re-use tailings, for example, as raw material for
glass, construction or agriculture industries.
The additional water recovered from tailings by filtration could
be re-used in processing facilities, reducing overall water
consumption.
BHP Chief Technical Officer, Laura Tyler, said: “The world will
need more critical minerals in the decades to come to support
economic development and decarbonisation pathways. It is important
that we keep working together across the global mining sector to
raise standards and make sure our operations are as safe and
sustainable as they can be. Responsible management of tailings and
improved water use is a big part of that.”
Rio Tinto Chief Technical Officer, Mark Davies, said: “It is in
everyone’s interest that we, as an industry, find safer and more
sustainable ways to manage tailings. As two of the leading
companies in the sector, we want to bring our combined knowledge
and expertise to address this challenge.”
Tailings usually takes the form of a liquid slurry made of fine
metal or mineral particles and water – created when mined ore is
crushed and finely ground in a milling process to enable the metals
and minerals of interest to be extracted.
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