Determination of Tailings Impoundment Capacity via Finite-Strain Consolidation Models

Mine designers are often faced with the problem of predicting the capacity of tailings impoundments for different production schedules and for different stages of mine development. The finite-strain consolidation model developed by Gibson is commonly used to describe the settlement of soft tailings materials as it allows for the non-linearity of material properties. This paper presents the upper and lower bound solutions for a 3-dimensional tailings deposition problem based on Gibson's theory. The presented solutions can be readily applied to determine the required impoundment capacity for various deposition rates and impoundment geometries. The proposed methods rationally account for the tailings compression as the height of the impoundment increases and provide predictions of the short-term and long-term tailings settlements.