Paste and Thickened Tailings Transportation Design Aspects Overview

Abstract

Tailings transport is an integrated element in any wet tailings storage facility (TSF). Tailings from the process plant are often thickened to a moderate or relatively high (but still pumpable) solids concentration, depending on several parameters mainly the TSF deposition requirements and strategies, process plant water security status and the dewatering technology utilised. This paper overviews the transportation of paste and thickened tailings and discusses various aspects and considerations in the hydraulic design of the system. Material characteristics, flow behaviour assessment (rheological behaviour measurement and interpretation) and the basis of design definition are discussed.The recent developments in environmental authorities' regulations associated with the tailings pipeline burst and leakage management are also reviewed in this paper. The tailings leakage and spillage to the environment is one the main concerns for any tailings hydraulic transportation system, therefore as part of the tailings pipeline design, the pipeline integrity failure (due to pipe wear, overpressure bursting etc.) should be thoroughly analysed to propose proper mitigation measures.The paper discusses a methodology to assess the potential tailings volume release to the environment in an event of the pipeline integrity failure which would be of interest to the operators and designers.

Long-time-scale transients in an industrial-scale slurry pipeline near the laminar–turbulent transition

“…While not shown, we do not observe any bed formation under turbulent flow conditions, in line with Thomas (1961). Javadi et al (2020) write 'for slow settling materials. .…”

“…This might be driven by pragmatism, since only pressure gradients are needed to design pipelines (Güzel, Burghelea, Frigaard, & Martinez, 2009). Furthermore, a minimum allowable transport velocity is determined by applying a safety margin to the critical velocity (Javadi, Pirouz, & Slatter, 2020).…”

Large-scale thickened tailings delivery and distribution system upgrade and optimisation

“…5. Future tailings discharging into the new TSF, material characterisation and adaptation of an updated design based on the upstream operation that is critical for any operating system rather than relying on the original plant design (Javadi et al 2020).…”

“…The pipeline is sized and selected based on the updated design to reflect the recent tonnages and rheological testing results obtained from future tailings samples. Depending on the tailings solids concentration, a transitional velocity of 2.5-3.6 m/s is predicted (Javadi et al 2020).…”