Signature Series - Prof Bre-Anne Sainsbury (Deakin University) - Environmentally Sustainable Disposal of Mine Tailings through Cemented Paste Backfill

Professor Bre-Anne Sainsbury, Deakin University, discusses the ​‘Environmentally Sustainable Disposal of Mine Tailings through Cemented Paste Backfill’

Mine sites create a significant amount of waste that, historically, is disposed of in surface facilities (e.g. waste dumps, tailings dams). These facilities can pose a significant risk to operations and surrounding areas. As such, many mines are moving to a more sustainable approach to disposal of waste rock through its re-placement underground as cemented paste backfill. Cemented paste backfill has the benefit of enabling a greater resource extraction. However, these benefits are not without their own engineering challenges! Some of which will be explored in this presentation.