Study of rheological behavior of mineral processing tailings in surface paste technology

Paste Technology has some advantages comparing to other surface disposal methods. With this method, it is possible to pump high concentrated solid materials to very long distances without segregation problem. However, it is known from Literature that pumpability of materials is completely related to rheological properties of the materials. For this reason, in this study, the rheological parameters (e.g. yield stress and viscosity values) of the paste material prepared from Pb-Zn tailings at various solid ratios (60-85%) were obtained in order to determine the pumpability of the paste material. Additionally, slump tests, which are usually used in mining industry, was carried out. Finally, regression analysis was made between the slump values and rheological parameters of the paste material to find a correlation between two independent parameters. The results showed that there is a great correlation between the slump values and the yield stress of the material. On the other hand, there was no con-elation with viscosity: T_y=430.28-16.877Sv (R² 0,94; T_y: Yield Stress (Pa), Sv. Slump Value (cm)). Based on the results obtained from this study, it can be clearly concluded that the slump values obtained from a simple test can be used to predict yield stress values of paste materials.