Tailings Deposition is a modelling application that automates the estimation of tailings deposition for a given basin, dam, and spigot configuration. This application greatly reduces the amount of time required to design and model a tailings fill plan. The application will calculate total volume for an individual cycle.

A rendered image of a filled model showing dam design, spigots and new pond produced by tailings flow.

What are the inputs

The inputs for Tailings Deposition consist of:

• A topographic surface of the basin to be modelled.
• Design information in the form of spigot points, dam centrelines and drainage basin outlines.
• Information about the properties of the tailings (density, percent solids, etc.) and flow to the basin from the mill facilities

How does it work

The elevation of deposited tailings is evaluated for every point on a grid depending on its location with respect to spigot points, dams, ponds and the topographic surface. An output grid is produced from which topographic or isopach contours can be generated with the SURPACVision contouring tools. The distance from the spigot is the chief determinant of the elevation of the tailings. It is calculated cumulatively along the flow path or directly to the spigot, depending on the users choice.

A starting basin showing major contours, spigot locations, a dam centreline and a pond elevation definition.

Other features

• Tailings slope changes at pond elevation
• Tailings will flow around doglegs and islands
• Tailings slope can be a linear or non-linear function
• Contours of the final surface are automated
• Design alternatives can be tested in minutes
• Isopachs can be generated from deposited tailings
• Storm-water capacity charts can be generated

Colour contoured tailings thickness at project completion.

How is this different from standard CAD modelling

Tailings surface modelling in standard CAD packages generally involves creating tailings contours using berm design tools and expanding outward from each spigot in turn until the tailings surface is completely below the existing topo. The berm and topo contours are clipped and joined to make the new surface. SURPACVision also has berm/pit/dump design tools but experience has shown that it takes a considerable amount of time to produce satisfactory results with these kinds of tools in any software package. The tailings applet uses the mathematical model of the tailings surface along with other inputs to calculate approximate elevations at every point in the basin. The chief advantage this method provides is time savings. Changes in design can be made and the deposition recalculated and plotted in minutes rather than hours or days.