Raising of Embankment of an Ore Tailings Pond and an Analysis of its Stability

Abstract The article presents a method for the intensification of a tailings pond. A tailings pond serves for the hydraulic storage of silt-sand waste arising during a flotation treatment and the processing of polymetallic ores. The intensification of the tailings pond consisted of raising its dam system to increase its accumulation space. The total proposed height of the tailings pond dam system after its elevation will be 60 m. The structural and shape arrangement of the dam in the dam system of the tailings pond was the result of a stability analysis of the state of the tailings pond before and after the dam system was raised. The article presents the results of experimental verifications of the geomaterial properties that form quasi-homogeneous units of the tailings pond (subsoil, dam system, and sediment) that serve as the inputs for stability analyses. New limiting and critical water levels are modelled based on the stability analysis for the intensified dam system of the tailings pond, taking into account the standard requirements for its overall stability.