Karara’s tailings management system
Gindalbie has awarded a 15 year contract to logistics group Bis Industries for provision of a tailings management system at its Karara project. The deal is worth $23m per annum.
Mining at Karara.
The Karara project is a 50/50 JV between Ansteel and operators Gindalbie, which said cutting edge dry tailings management technology would be employed by Bis. This involves separating the tailings management system from conventional tailings dams or evaporation ponds.
According to Gindalbie, the production of dry tailings represents a significant investment in water recycling capacity at Karara. This allows the project to reduce its water consumption by about a third, providing significant environmental benefits to the project’s arid environment.
A FLSmidth mobile stacking system will be used. It can handle 18mtpa of tailings, or the equivalent tailings from the production of 10mtpa of magnetite concentrate.
Gindalbie said that in the first instance, the system will be operated at 14.6mtpa (8mtpa of dry magnetite concentrate production), but can accommodate increased throughput from the plant, as part of the planned Stage 2 expansion of the project.
The system will ultimately stack the tailings material up to 95m high (performed in three lifts) over a 20-year period.
Gindalbie’s managing director, Tim Netscher, said that Karara has incorporated a clarification process into the overall ore beneficiation process, which allows de-watering to produce tailings that are dry and inert.
“The resulting tailings comprise a dry, inert material composed predominantly of silica that will be stockpiled and progressively rehabilitated.”
Contact: www.gindalbie.com.au
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