Utilization of extracted wastes and drained waters from uranium mines to backfill Saghand underground uranium mine aiming at reducing environmental hazards

Abstract

In uranium mines, the excavated waste has a lower grade than the threshold grade and is dumped on the surface as waste material. Due to erosion and rainfall over time, it is very likely that part of the uranium content is washed out of waste dump and leaked into surface and subsurface water resources and cause severe environmental hazards. The excavated waste during mining, as well as water collected during the drainage process of underground excavations, can be reused in the preparation of concrete fillers. In this study, samples of concrete backfill material were prepared by using waste material excavated from Saghand open pit and underground mines. Based on conducted testing and analyses, it was found that a large proportion of deposed waste and drained water can be used to prepare concrete fillers to fill stopes in Saghand underground mine. This process leads to a major reduction in mining costs, increased safety of mining operations, and significant improvements in reducing environmental pollutions.

Keywords

• cut-off grade
• uranium mines waste
• environmental pollution
• concrete fillers