Rheological Properties of Tailings Materials

particle solution (slurry). The tailings are piped to lakes, with 
a few significant outliers where the allowed practise is to 
dump straight into rivers and oceans. Large, designed 
structures, such as the one illustrated in (Figure 2a), are 
created in the trough or with sidewalls. This little red mud 
dumps reservoir in Hungary collapsed on October 6, 2010. 
(Figure 2b). The crimson sludge swelled to a height of 2 
metres, killing 9 people and injuring 122 others, according 
to reports. The fine-particle leftover after the separation of 
alumina from bauxite is known as red mud. At a pH of 
around 13, this is released. On a massive basis alumina 
refineries produce about 15,000 tonnes of fine-particle trash 
each day. This is little in compared to the world's largest 
copper mine. 
Environmentally, the sector has a terrible reputation. 
Tailings dumps, dam collapses, leakages, unrehabilitated 
areas, and discharges into waterways are all part of the 
evidence. There have been 21 reported tailings dam disasters 
in the last decade at least, compared to 22 in the decade 
before that. Minimum 268 individuals have died as a direct 
result of tailings dam accidents in the last five years, yet 
these tragedies have gone unnoticed by the general public. 
Figure 2: (a) red mud tailing in Hungary and (b) 2010 dam failure (Boger 
2013) 
IV.CASE STUDIES 
Tailings Slurries Rheology 
Slurries can be classed as Newtonian or non-Newtonian 
fluids based on their flow characteristics. Under many 
situations, existing tailings-disposal technique involves 
pumping low-concentration Newtonian mixtures to a 
dumping pond in turbulent flow. Usually, slurry and 
thickening tailings act in a non-Newtonian manner. 
The generated shear stress and the shear rate in inelastic 
Newtonian fluids have a direct proportionality. As shear 
stress is imposed, flow begins. 
A uniform viscosity is indicated by the proportional 
connection between shear stress and shear rate. In the 
presence of a yield stress, concentrating mining tailings 
exhibit non-Newtonian behaviour. The yield stress, is the 
crucial shear stress that should be surpassed in order for 
permanent deformation and flowing to occur.