The iron tailings are the main source of solid waste of mining, as well as the potential resource. Regarding the characteristic and scale of iron tailings in China, this paper discusses the current situation and urgency of developing and utilizing of massive mining tailings, and the progresses of related researches on metal recovery, tailings processing and mutual utilization between tailings and mine-out stope. This paper also presents that using the tailing back-fill the mine-out stope currently is the best approach for massive resource utilization, based on sufficient metal elements recovery. This approach addresses the conflict of lands occupation due to the surface waste stacks, and gives the developing orientation of massive tailings resource utilization.
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