THE APPLICATION OF HIGH DENSITY PASTE BACKFILL AT AN UNDERGROUND MINE

5th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2005, www.sgem.org, SGEM2005 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 13-17, 2005, 191- 199pp

ABSTRACT

Mine backfill can be defined as the material or materials used for filling the
underground openings created by the mining process in order to establish and retain safe
working conditions. In this study, an overview of the current application of mining
operations with paste backfill technology has been examined with a case study from an
underground copper-zinc mine located in the northeast Turkey. Due to the elimination of the
harmful mine tailings obtained from mill processing and hence the reduced rehabilitation
costs on surface, paste backfill method has found increasingly extensive use on many modern
mining industries around the world for the last two decades. Disposal of mine tailings
underground not only reduces the environmental impact on surface mine site but also allows
an engineering material for underground mines to improve the ground conditions and
economic efficiently. This paper describes firstly how the paste backfill technology contributes to a mining operation and then explains the current paste backfill practice with a
case study in terms of its preparation, transport, placement and quality control processes.