Past, Present, and Future of Copper Mine Tailings Governance in Chile (1905–2022): A Review in One of the Leading Mining Countries in the World

Abstract

How mine tailings storage facilities (TSF) are managed reflects the history, regulatory framework, and environment of a country and locale of the mine. Despite many attempts to find an environmentally friendly strategy for tailings management and governance that balances the needs of society and the ecosystem, there is no worldwide agreement regarding the best practices for tailings management and governance. This article reviews the evolution of copper tailings management and governance in Chile, current practices, and changes that could be or may need to be made to improve practices in response to local environmental conditions and local tolerance for risk. The progress to date in developing a holistic tailings management strategy is summarized. This article also describes recent proposals for the best available technologies (BATs), case histories of Chilean TSF using conventional technology, thickened tailings, paste tailings, filtered tailings, water use reduction, tailings reprocessing to obtain rare earth elements (REEs), circular economy, submarine deep-sea tailings disposal, and ways to avoid failure in a seismic region. Finally, the Chilean tailings industry’s pending issues and future challenges in reducing the socioenvironmental impacts of tailings are presented, including advances made and lessons learned in developing more environmentally friendly solutions.

Socio-Environmental Risks Linked with Mine Tailings Chemical Composition: Promoting Responsible and Safe Mine Tailings Management Considering Copper and Gold Mining Experiences from Chile and Peru

“…Physical separation processes take advantage of the different physical properties of mineral particles, such as size, density, and magnetic and surface energy. Commonly used physical separation processes include gravity concentration, magnetic separation, and/or flotation separation, and use jigs, flotation cells, and spirals separator equipment, which may include the use of mining chemicals [ 2 ].…”

“…In practice, there are different definitions for mine tailings from different points of view considering the experience of different professional disciplines involved in mine tailings management [ 2 ]. Thus, for example, from a metallurgical point of view and considering the process, mining tailings are defined as the remaining low-grade material of valuable beneficiation metal, that is, the gangue obtained through the flotation process [ 11 ].…”

Waste tailing particle electrode enables enhanced electrochemical degradation of sulfamethoxazole

“…With the rapid development of industrialization in China, the consumption of mineral resources is huge, and the discharge of tailings is gradually increasing. 13 The accumulated tailing residue will also bring great pressure to the human ecological environment, making it urgent to accelerate the pace of its comprehensive utilization. 14 The recovery and utilization of tailings is not only an important task of mining circular economy, but also a major influence on the sustainable development of resources.…”

Sustainable Alkali-Activated Mortars for the Immobilization of Heavy Metals from Copper Mine Tailings

“…After the commodity of value is extracted from the ore material, the resultant waste stream is termed “tailings”. Therefore, mine tailings (MTs) are the complex residual material composed of fine or coarsely ground rock particles left over after extracting valuable minerals from ores. , Among all, copper MTs (CMTs) constitute the highest proportion of metal mining and processing wastes generated worldwide. It is estimated that copper production from mines reached a total of 22 million metric tons in 2022, generating >66 million metric tons of CMTs .…”

“…The grain size distribution of the CMTs has been analyzed by means of a Micromeritics Saturn Digisizer 5200 laser diffractometer with a range of 0.1−1000 μm and can be seen in Figures S1 and S2. (1) The mean particle size is D 50 = 10.9 μm with a fine percentage (passing throw sieve No. 200) equal to 98.6%.…”