Fill Technology in Underground Mines

Backfill refers to any waste material that is placed into voids of mined out area in underground for the purpose of either disposal or to support. Waste materials used for this purpose Includes waste development rock or mill tailings. Other exotic backfill types used overseas include ice and salt. Selection of backfill material is made on the following basis: Pillar Recovery Sill pillar recovery Working platform Ground Support Waste Disposal

Classification of Back fill

Backfill can either be cemented or uncemented. Cement is required when the walls of backfilled stopes are exposed for recovery of immediately adjacent ore. There are three common types of backfill.

Hydraulic Backfill
It consists of sand to silt sized particles of aggregate, water, and usually some type of binder. The pulp density of hydraulic fill is generally between about 72% and 65% to attain minimum flow velocity to prevent the settling of the solids in pipes. The high water content of this backfill gives it the appearance of muddy water as it flows out the end of a pipe.

Paste Backfill
It contains sand to silt sized particles of aggregate, water and binder. Compared to hydraulic fill, paste contains a larger fraction in the silt size particle range. The solids content or pulp density is generally between 75% and 82%. The lower water content and finer particle size, compared to hydraulic fill, give it the range of appearance from a thin milk shake to toothpaste. A true paste backfill will not segregate and produces very little bleed water.

Rock Fill
Waste rock is used to backfill underground openings, reducing waste disposal on surface. It consists mainly of course aggregate, but sometimes includes tailings or sand to fill out the grain size distribution. Any binder is added in the form of slurry composed of cement and water.

Fill properties; Fill Particle Size and Shape

The physical nature of the solid particles, and the way they fit together, greatly influences the final mechanical properties of the backfill. Often, the source of the fill material and the way in which it is processed affects the constituent particles shape, size and size distribution. Due to the mineral commination process and blasting, most tailing particles and rock fills, respectively, are very angular and rough in nature while alluvial sands, which are weathered by water, tend to be round and smooth. Particle shape affects the size of voids and connection paths available for holding and transporting fluids.

The presence of fine particles acts to increase the compressive strength of soil by filling in the voids between coarser particles and increasing interparticle connections. An increase in fine particles also increases the pulp density of backfill during transportation making the slurry less likely to settle.

Strength Properties of the Cemented Fills, with Regards to Fill

Cementation will decrease the percolation rate due to the formation of cement gel in the void spaces. Addition of Portland cement greatly reduces the permeability of hydraulic fill. As cement content increases, the permeability decreases.

Temperature Effect
Cemented backfill, like concrete, needs the correct moisture and temperature to cure properly. Favorable temperature ranges from 10C to 20C. A higher initial curing temperature will result in rapid strength gain and lower long term strength. With respect to mine backfill, the only practical controls are initial material temperatures, which should be as cool as possible. In cold temperatures, fresh cement paste will freeze when the temperature is below -4C. Below 10C cement hydration ceases along with any backfill strength gain.

Fill preparation
Solid materials selected for slurry backfill must be prepared according to the required technical properties of the fill and operational needs. The basic criteria for fill preparation are as follows: Fill should be prepared in accordance with mechanical property requirements generated from underground operation, and preparation cost should be optimized. The solids concentration of slurry must be optimum for its transportation and satisfactory backfill performance. Fine particle content tailings or sand must be minimized to render the resultant fill inherently safe with respect to possible liquefaction after placement and to allow it to drain sufficiently rapidly after placement. The percentage recovery of fill from tailings or waste disposal should be maximized, to ensure an adequate supply of fill with reduced environmental hazard.

Dewatering
Dewatering is very important part in backfilling. Surface plants allow for higher volumes of paste fill production and eliminate the need for underground reject water return. Dewatering systems are: Thickeners and Filters Underflow from conventional thickeners should not experience particle segregation, should be easy to pump with centrifugal pumps. Filtration is done using a disk or drum vacuum filter, belt filter or other such device. A filter cake being produced that typically contains only between 10% and 25% moisture. High Density Thickeners Can be used as a one stage dewatering system for mill tails Require a large number of small diameter cones for sufficient quantities Generally have higher capital and operating costs than a thickener/filter system Are seldom used Centrifuges Scale tests have demonstrated their capability to produce low slump paste from medium and fine tailings coarse tailings tend to have high fines material losses in the overflow Has a very high maintenance cost and very low availability rate Is currently seldom used Tank Dewatering Utilizes natural settling properties of tails in large, deep-level tanks A flocculent is added to settle tailings as a non-segregated saturated mass. Paste consistency is reduced or lost upon discharge.

Placement
Rock fill placement results in creation of high strength rock fill masses in areas located immediately below the impact zone and on the same side of the stope at which wall collision occurs. Raises should be angled towards the stope walls so that the trajectory of placed fine aggregates will cause them to remain at the side wall locations where higher rock fill strength is desired. If a fill raise can be oriented so that the impact cone can be situated directly against a stope wall, coarse material will rebound and

migrate towards the stope Centre where minimal rock fill strength is required. Two principal methods are used for tailings placement in mines:

Dry Tailings Backfill Placement

In dry tailings backfill placement, the salt tailings are centrifuged or dewatered in the mill to moisture content between 5 to 8 percent by weight.

Hydraulic Backfill Placement

In hydraulic backfill placement, salt tailings slurry is prepared on surface and hydraulically placed underground through the use of pipelines.

Fill Storing
In hydraulic backfill placement, salt tailings slurry is prepared on surface and hydraulically placed underground through the use of pipelines.

Various Methods for Employing Backfills

Backfills are used in some of the following underground mining methods. Cut and Fill Shrinkage Stopping Room and Pillar when extracting pillars Square set stopping