Geotechnical Engineering for Mine Waste Storage Facilities Book

Chapter 1: Waste Engineering, Characteristics of Mine Wastes and Types of Waste Storage

• *The nature and magnitude of the mine waste storage activity
• *Origins and quantities of mine waste
• *The effects of climate
• *Waste characteristics
• *Principles of mine waste management
• *Types of mine waste storage
• *Philosophy and arrangement of this book

Chapter 2: Selection of a Site for Storage of Mine Waste

• *Procedure for site selection
• *Preliminary assessment of required size of site
• *Possible fatal flaws in candidate sites
• *Seeking and obtaining public acceptance
• *Preliminary ranking of candidate sites
• *Site feasibility study
• *Risk analysis
• *Environmental impact report
• *Preliminary geotechnical characterization of waste
• *Preliminary site investigation
• *Final site selection
• *Examples of disastrous selection of sites

Chapter 3: Geotechnical Exploration of Sites for Development of Mine Waste Storages

• *Soil engineering survey
• *Soil engineering data
• *Detailed information for design of slopes & seepage control
• *Profile description
• *Simple in situ tests and soil sampling
• *Taking undisturbed soil samples for laboratory testing

Chapter 4: Environmental and Engineering Characteristics of Mine Waste, Including Stress and Strain Analysis and Laboratory Shear Testing

• *Characteristics having environmental impact
• *Engineering characteristics
• *Changes of waste characteristics with time, and other considerations
• *Analysis of stresses and strains and the principle of effective stress
• *The behaviour of mine waste materials subjected to shear
• *The process of consolidation and pore pressure re-distribution in laboratory shear tests
• *The strength and viscosity of tailings at large water contents
• *The shear strengths of interfaces
• *The shear strength of waste rock
• *Strain softening of "dry’’ coarse mine wastes
• *The mechanics of unsaturated waste materials

Chapter 5: In Situ Shear Strength Testing of Tailings and Other Waste Materials and Test Interpretation

• *The shear vane test
• *The pressuremeter test
• *The cone penetrometer test
• *Estimation of potential for liquefaction from cone penetration tests

Chapter 6: Measuring the Coefficient of Permeability in the Laboratory and In Situ, Seepage Flow Nets, Drains and Linings, Geosynthetics, Geomembranes and GCL’s

• *Measuring permeability
• *Observed differences between small scale and large scale permeability measurements
• *Laboratory tests for permeability
• *Methods for measuring permeability in situ
• *Estimation of permeability from field tests
• *Large-scale permeability tests using test pads
• *The permeability of tailings
• *Seepage and flow nets
• *The design of filter drains
• *Calculation of seepage rates through tailings storages
• *The processes of consolidation and pore pressure re-distribution
• *Basal impervious liners and surface cover layers
• *Blockage of filter drains and geotextiles
• *Geosynthetic materials

Chapter 7: The Mechanics of Compaction

• *The compaction process
• *Uses of compaction in mine waste engineering
• *The mechanisms of compaction
• *Relationships between saturated permeability to water flow and water content
• *Laboratory compaction
• *Precautions to be taken with laboratory compaction
• *Compaction in the field
• *Designing a compacted clay layer for permeability
• *Seepage through field-compacted layers
• *Control of compaction in the field
• *Special considerations for work in climates with large rates of evaporation
• *Additional points for consideration

Chapter 8: Methods for Constructing Impounding Dykes for Storing Hydraulically Transported Tailings and Other Fine-Grained Wastes

• *Deposition methods and sequences
• *Beach formation in hydraulic deposition of fine-grained wastes
• *Predicting beach profiles
• *Details of particle size sorting during hydraulic deposition
• *Effects of particle size sorting on permeability, water content and strength variation down a beach
• *A comparison of tailings beaches formed in air and in water
• *Methods for depositing slurries of tailings and other fine-grained waste materials
• *Operational systems for tailings storages
• *An example of building an embankment by underwater deposition
• *Pool control and decanting

Chapter 9: Water Control and Functional and Safety Monitoring for Hydraulic Fill Tailings Storages and Dry Dumps Safety Appraisal Special Considerations for Carbonaceous and Radioactive Wastes

• *Basis of a water control system
• *Penstocks or decant towers and spillways
• *Monitoring systems for waste storages
• *Appraisal of safety for waste storages
• *Special considerations for carbonaceous wastes
• *A note on characteristics of radioactive wastes

Chapter 10: Water Balances for Tailings Storage Facilities and Dry Waste Dumps

• *Water balances in general
• *Required data
• *Components of the water balance for an operational tailings storage
• *Examples of water balances for operating hydraulic fill tailings storage impoundments
• *The possibilities for saving water
• *Seepage from the tailings storage into the foundation strata and the recession of the phreatic surface following cessation of operations
• *Drainage of interstitial water as the phreatic surface recedes
• *The water balance for a "dry’’ dump or a closed and rehabilitated tailings storage
• *Measuring potential infiltration and runoff
• *Estimating evaporation or evapotranspiration
• *Measuring evaporation by solar energy balance
• *Depth to which evaporation extends
• *The effects of slope angle and orientation on solar radiation received by slopes of waste storages
• *Water balances for "Infiltrate, Store, Evapotranspire’’ (ISE) covers and for impervious cover layers on mine waste storages
• *The water balance for a dry ash dump
• *Disposal of industrial waste liquids by evaporation and capillary storage in waste
• *The role of soil heat G in evaporation of water from a soil
• *Further points to consider
• *Principles of the measuring weir

Chapter 11: Failures of Mine Waste Storages

• *Failures: causes, consequences, characteristics
• *Failures of hydraulic fill tailings storages caused by seismic events
• *Flow failures caused by overtopping
• *Failure caused by increasing pore pressure
• *Failures caused by excessive rate of rise
• *Failure caused by poor control of slurry relative density
• *Post-failure profiles of hydraulic fill tailings storages
• *Analysis of the motion of flow failures
• *The effects of failure geometry on insurance rates
• *Failures of dumps of coarse wastes
• *Failures caused by collapse of tailings storages into subterranean caverns or underground workings
• *Failures of impervious linings installed on steep slopes
• *Methods for analysis of the stability of slopes
• *Further points regarding the failure of slopes

Chapter 12: Surface Stability of Tailings Storages Slopes – Erosion Rates, Slope Geometry and Engineered Erosion Protection

• *Past practice for slope angles of tailings storages
• *Acceptable erosion rates for slopes
• *Wind erosion compared with water erosion
• *Acceptable slope geometry for tailings storages
• *Protection of slopes against erosion by geotechnical means
• *Special considerations applying to badly eroded abandoned or neglected tailings storages
• *The effect of eroded tailings on the surroundings of a storage of sulphidic tailings
• *Wind speed profiles, amplification factors and wind erosion
• *Wind speed profiles over natural and constructed slopes
• *Wind tunnel tests on model waste storages
• *Erosion and deposition by wind on full size waste storages
• *Analysis of particle movement in the wind
• *Summary of points to be considered

Chapter 13: The Use of Mine Waste for Backfilling of Mining Voids and as a Construction Material

• *Applications of backfilling
• *Backfilling of shallow underground mine workings to stabilize the surface
• *The properties of mine waste as a structural underground support in narrow stopes
• *Measurements in situ of stresses and strains in fills at great depth
• *Supporting narrow stopes with steel-reinforced granular tailings backfill
• *The behaviour of steel mesh-reinforced square columns of cemented cyclone tailings underflow (grout packs)
• *The use of geotextiles for temporary retention of backfill in narrow stopes during hydraulic placing
• *The use of mine and industrial wastes in surface construction