RESEARCH PROJECTS
Tailings Center Research
The Tailings Center industry-research consortium, provides research and workforce capacity generation. The Center produces graduate and undergraduate students with tailings management experience through both Center sponsored research and affiliation with broader university research at Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and University of Arizona.
Reuse of Mine Tailings for Production of Sustainable Construction Materials
Researchers: Dr. Reza Hedayat, Dr. Linda Figueroa, Dr. Lori Tunstall, Dr. Brian Gorman
PhD Student Researchers: Cara Clements, Farid Shabani
University: Colorado School of Mines The goal of our research is to develop production processes for making sustainable, economical, and durable building materials, specifically geopolymer bricks, lightweight aggregates, ceramic tiles, and concrete additives all derived from mine tailings.
The conversion of mine tailings into sustainable construction materials presents an innovative solution that addresses the mining industry’s environmental and human impacts and the construction sector’s sustainability needs. Mine tailings are finely ground residuals after the valuable metals and minerals extracted from the ore beneficiation process. The handling and storage of tailings are costly and pose significant environmental and safety risks, including air pollution, leaching of heavy metals, and tailings dam failures. Reusing mine tailings provides promising opportunities to promote a circular economy by reducing the need to consume natural resources, decreasing mine tailings deposition, and providing cheaper and more sustainable materials for building and construction. The overall scope of our research work is to transform mine tailings into value-added products in the form of geopolymer bricks, Lightweight aggregates, ceramic tiles, and supplementary cementitious materials while emphasizing sustainability and economic viability. The following brief talk presents an overview of our research on reuse of mine tailings:
