Utilizing Mill Tailings for investigating into the feasibility of brick manufacturing

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELAGAVI
2023-2024
Carried at:
Department Of Civil Engineering ,
DR. T. THIMMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, K.G.F
A PROJECT REVIEW ON
“INVESTIGATING INTO THE FEASIBILITY OF GOLD MILL TAILINGS
FOR THE MANUFACTURING OF BRICKS”
BY
SRIKANTH M V (1GV20CV007)
SWAROOP RANI M (1GV20CV010)
AAMIR SUHAIL (1GV21CV400)
KAVAN S (1GV21CV402)
On date - 18/03/2024
Under the guidance of
Prof .MANEELA M Dr. MANJUNATH A
Assistant Professor Associate Professor, Mining dept
Department of Civil Engineering
Dr. T Thimmaiah Institute Of Technology
K G F

CONTENTS
2023-2024 Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. T.T.I.T; K.G.F 2
Investigating into the feasibility of Gold Mill Tailings for the manufacturing of bricks
ᴥ Introduction
ᴥ Problem Statement
ᴥ Aim & Objectives
ᴥ Literature Review
ᴥ Methodology
ᴥ Materials and tests
ᴥ References

INTRODUCTION
Mill tailings (waste dump) that comes from mine areas are one among those end products
which are put to no productive use, these are dumped in terribly large quantities (43
Million tonnes) and pose major environmental harm to the locals living in and around this
tailing dumped regions; perhaps the whole town.
Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) well known for its gold production during the pre independence
era, now has around 10% of its land area covered only with this residual stuff came after
the mining processes. Today, its seemingly hard to impossible for this waste to be
completely removed or discarded; hence an efficient and engineered solution for this
problem is very need of the hour.
On such case, instead of coming down to a solution such that completely relocating or
discarding it elsewhere is mad idea, whereas utilizing the mill tailings effectively for the
manufacturing of construction materials are highly recommended; as it advocates the
Solid Waste Management and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-G20) criterion.
This particular Project focuses on utilizing the mill tailings of KGF and study its
feasibility and efficiency for the manufacturing of bricks; which is expected to satisfy the
basic functional, structural and industrial demands and as well to use it purposefully.

ADVANTAGES
 Replacing the Regular clay brick to sustainable brick in construction
 Probable increase in Strength can be witnessed with the right additives and proportions
 Reducing the Environmental Footprint by providing sustainable solution
 Satisfies the RRR criteria (Recover, Reuse & Recycle)
 Contribution to Sustainable development goals and Solid waste management
 Promotes Circular Economy

LIMITATIONS
 The soil structure is in “Silt” form, which influences the water retaining
capacity and may affect during compaction of brick, allowing seepage
during this process
 Identifying the Right additives and their proportions that chemically
stabilizes the mill tailings is challenging.
 Arriving at the end product is Time consuming.

LITERATURE REVIEW
TITLE AUTHOR NAME,YEAR OF
PUBLICATION
KEY POINTS
1. “Use of Gold Mill
Tailings in Making
Bricks: a feasibility
study”
‘Surendra Roy; Govind R.
Adhikari; Rama N. Gupta’;
2007; KGF, India;
SAGE Publications
The Laboratory scale study was aimed at
Utilizing gold mill tailings from the mill
tailings dumps at Kolar Gold Fields by using
them in making bricks.
The quality of brick is studied when different
additives are added at different proportions
and water content. The compressive strength,
Water Absorption and linear shrinkage after
complete curing of the brick is widely
evaluated and the results are arrived with
respect to the standard codes.

LITERATURE REVIEW
PUBLICATION
KEY POINTS
2. “Compressed
Unfired Blocks made
with Iron ore tailings
and Slag”
‘H K Thejas & Nabil
Hossiney’;
2022; Bengaluru, India;
Taylor & Francis
Publications
This study focuses on utilizing mining waste,
namely iron ore tailings (IOT) in development
of stable blocks. It has reported various
properties of compressed unfired blocks
formed by IOT & GGBS in varying
proportions. The combination of lime and
GGBS was found to be suitable in stabilizing
the IOT proving the positive interaction
between all the additives; as it significantly
reduces the water absorption and apparent
porosity.

LITERATURE REVIEW
PUBLICATION
KEY POINTS
3. “Use of tailings as a
substitute for sand in
concrete blocks
Production:
Gravimetric Mining
Wastes as a Case
Study”
‘Diana Mendez, Fredy
Guzman-Martinez, Mauricio
Acosta, Luis Collahuazo,
Danilo Ibarra, Luis Lalangui
and Samantha Jimenez-
Oyola’;
2022; Ecuador, South Africa;
MDPI Publications
The mill tailings discussed in this paper is
from Zamora, Chinchipe, Southern Ecuador,
where the gold mining activity had resulted in
large dumping around 12,250m3 area. The
Mill tailings from this region is used in partial
replacement of fine aggregate, upto 50% in the
manufacturing of Concrete Blocks. In this
study, it was found that utilizing less than 50%
of tailings offers the required strength and
water absorption qualities.

LITERATURE REVIEW
PUBLICATION
KEY POINTS
4. “Stabilization of
Gold Mine Tailings:
The effect of
Hydrated lime on the
unconfined
compressive
Strength”
‘T Mashifana, N Sithole, &
E Mkhonto’;
2019; Mpumalanga, South
Africa;
IOP Publications.
In this paper, the mill tailing from PARGM,
South Africa is utilized to study its
effectiveness when hydrated lime is utilized. It
was evidently seen that the geotechnical and
chemical reaction of lime with GMT allowed
the stabilization of mill tailing effectively.
Tests like UCS & Std Proctor and Modified
Proctor tests were done. The results suggest
that using 70:30 proportions of tailing to lime
gave suitable masonry requirements.

LITERATURE REVIEW
PUBLICATION
KEY POINTS
5. “Alkaline
Solidification of Gold
Mine Tailings for
production of
lightweight masonry
blocks”
‘N T Sithole & T P
Mashifana’;
2019; Western Basin; South
Africa;
IOP Publications.
This paper highlights about alkaline(NaOH)
activity with Gold mill tailings. The study was
conducted to strengthen and stabilize gold
mine tailings for the production of masonry
blocks used in construction. The study also
addresses the addition of Portland cement in
mix with GMT. With sufficient curing periods
and ratios, the alkaline activation was found to
be effective when major portion of Ultimate
UCS was gained within 4 days.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
 Stabilization of the tailings is as well challenging due to the evident chemical reactions and
affects that may be seen from the heavy metals predominantly present in the mill tailings
 Establishing the right proportions of GMT, Additives and water content is quite challenging
 By Increasing the amount of mill tailings to the mixture, the compressive strength is gradually
decreasing.
 Utilization of certain additive materials may not be economic, which may affect the final cost of
the brick.
 Mill Tailings have very low to zero Plasticity, which can ultimately affect in obtaining the
compressive strength required for the brick.
 Water retaining capacity of the mixed proportion is observed to be low, which results in
seepage.

OBJECTIVES
 To identify suitable additives which play vital role in increasing
plasticity/binding properties in GMT.
 To identify right proportions of GMT and additives for making bricks with
acceptable UCS.
 To check the feasibility of GMT in brick manufacturing.

SYNOPSIS
“Investigating into the feasibility of Gold mill tailings for the manufacturing of bricks”
This study explore the suitability of mill tailings in order to repurpose it for the
manufacturing of sustainable bricks. The project aims to determine the feasibility,
prospects, application and challenges when the mill tailings are put in use for the
manufacturing of brick; simultaneously arrive at the construction, industrial and
market demands.

2023-2024
Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. T.T.I.T; K.G.F 14
METHODOLOGY

MATERIALS AND TESTS
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
1. Mill Tailings
2. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag
(GGBS)
3. Lime (Hydrated CaCO3)
4. Water
Other materials Include: Brick Moulds of
size 200mm(L), 100mm(W), 100mm(D),
Laboratory Testing equipment's,
Compactor, oven, etc

MATERIALS AND TESTS
TESTS TO BE CONDUCTED:
1. Sieve Analysis
2. Compressive Strength Tests
3. Water Absorption (Moisture content)
4. Dimensions and Tolerances (Shrinkage)
5. Sounding tests & Fall tests
6. Efflorescence.
7. Proctor Tests
Here’s what is to be
determined:
Specific Gravity
Bulk density
Apparent porosity
Hardness No
Physical and Mechanical
Properties
OMC & MDD.

SAMPLE LOCATION DETAILS
The mill tailings were collected from Champion area, KGF, the sample were readily available as surface level
excavation was already done for the construction of new rail line adjacent to the existing one. 4 different samples
(25 kgs each) were collected from 4 different points and they were sieved and mixed together to make one
collective sample

PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION SO FAR
Sample Sieving: The Mill tailings sample was first sieved to remove all uneven grains present in it
and it was passed through 600μm & 300μm.
 The sample passing completely through 300μm was taken further for mixing.
 The sieved sample was mixed with certain proportions of additives and water (Initial Trial and
error process is done before actually compacting the sample into bricks).

Sample Making and proportioning: Before casting into the actual brick moulds, the mix
proportions were made in smaller quantities i.e for 500 gms, and were casted in available moulds
and compacted.
The following table shows the proportions used and the sample moulds
Proportions table in %
An overall of 500gms of paste was done using the following
table
GMT GGBS Lime Water in ml
42 44 14 160
35 50 15 160
35 45 20 80 to 120
 It was found that adding a lot of water increased in seepage during compaction. Hence the
water content was gradually reduced and the mill tailings was also reduced since the first
sample displayed no great hardness. It was later found that adding water benefitted in
binding and giving sufficient strength after compaction and 48+ hours of air drying.
 The samples are let to dry for observation before the proportions are finalized and casted into
moulds

REFERENCE
1. ‘Surendra Roy; Govind R. Adhikari; Rama N. Gupta’, “Use of Gold Mill Tailings in Making Bricks: a
feasibility study”, 2007; KGF, India; SAGE Publications.
2. ‘H K Thejas & Nabil Hossiney’; “Compressed Unfired Blocks made with Iron ore tailings and Slag”; 2022;
Bengaluru, India; Taylor & Francis Publications.
3. ‘Diana Mendez, Fredy Guzman-Martinez, Mauricio Acosta, Luis Collahuazo, Danilo Ibarra, Luis Lalangui and
Samantha Jimenez-Oyola’; “Use of tailings as a substitute for sand in concrete blocks Production:
Gravimetric Mining Wastes as a Case Study”; 2022; Ecuador, South Africa; MDPI Publications.
4. ‘T Mashifana, N Sithole, & E Mkhonto’; “Stabilization of Gold Mine Tailings: The effect of Hydrated lime on
the unconfined compressive Strength”; 2019; Mpumalanga, South Africa; IOP Publications.
5. ‘N T Sithole & T P Mashifana’; “Alkaline Solidification of Gold Mine Tailings for production of lightweight
masonry blocks” 2019; Western Basin; South Africa; IOP Publications.

2023-2024
Department
of
Civil
Engineering,
Dr.
T.T.I.T;
K.G.F
21
THANK
YOU

Utilizing Mill Tailings for investigating into the feasibility of brick manufacturing

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