Chemical factors that influence the performance of mine sulphidic paste backfill

Sulphide-rich tailings from four Canadian mines were sampled (Mines A1, A2, B and C) to prepare several different paste backfill mixtures. The sulphur grade within these tailings samples range from 5 to 32 wt.%. The binders used were Portland-cement-based binders, fly-ash-based binders and slag-based binders with proportions ranging from 3 to 6 wt.%. The study was carried out in two stages. Stage I allowed us to understand the effects of binder type, binder proportion and tailings properties on compressive strength development of paste backfill during the course of curing time. It was pointed out that for high sulphide tailings, neither the slag-based binders nor the fly-ash-based binders were effective, whereas the sulphate-resistant-based binder (mix of Type I [TI] and Type V [TV] Portland cements) gave good long-term strength. However, the slag-based binders gave the best strength for low and medium sulphide-bearing tailings for which the Portland- and the fly-ash-based mixtures have a relatively low strength. Stage II allowed us to study the early stage strength acquisition of the various mixtures. It was found that the chemical composition of the mixing water plays a role on the mechanical behavior of certain cemented backfills. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.