Dr. Reza Nik presents the findings of COSIA’s Enhanced Beach Fines Capture Working Group, reviewing the fines capture observed in commercial scale external tailings facilities (ETFs), field scale trials and flume deposition tests. The study indicates that conventional tailings facilities having large deep ponds can achieve overall fines captures (cell, beach above water (BAW) and beach below water (BBW) combined) from 60 to 70%, to almost 80% in some cases. BAW deposits have lower captures, in the order of 30 to 40% for typical whole tailings. The geometry, depth and maturity of a tailings pond, the beach length and energy of the depositional environment, containment/backpressure effects and co-disposal of coarse and fine tailings together, all can affect the fines capture of a tailings facility.
Dr. Nik’s presentation was part of the Oil Sands Tailings 2014 conference organized by the Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility, University of Alberta, at Lake Louise, Alberta, on Dec. 7-10, 2014.
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