Water conservation, efficient tailings management and responsible mine reclamation are becoming increasingly important for mines to ensure their licence to operate.

Therefore, global equipment supplier Metso has introduced its comprehensive tailings management concept to enable and support environmentally and economically sustainable mining, spearheaded by the launch of the new Metso VPX filter for tailings dewatering.

“Our ambition is to challenge the conventional way of looking at tailings management in mining.

“In practice, this means that, besides environmental and regulatory concerns related to tailings, we need to improve the conservation of water, chemicals and ore, as well as look for opportunities to reprocess tailings and generate value by extracting any remaining minerals.

“Ultimately, it allows transforming legacy practices in tailings management into a new, positive value creation model,” Metso mining equipment business area president Victor Tapia noted in a press statement released in June.

He added that, Metso was driving this change by introducing a new concept for the dewatering, handling and reprocessing of tailings.

Designed to enhance water recovery and reduce the footprint of tailings dams or eliminate them completely, Metso Tailings Management Solutions provide a long-term solutions for mining companies looking for a viable approach to their tailings management and end-of-mine strategies.

Sustainable and Cost efficient Mining

There are significant amounts of tailings discharged and lying in legacy dams. Today, only about 5% of tailings are dewatered while roughly 70% of the mines are located in countries where water scarcity is considered an issue.

The way tailings are handled can have a long-term impact on the mines’ economic efficiency as well as on the wellbeing of the surrounding environment and communities.

“Metso views dry filtered tailings as the most viable and long-term solution for tailings management; it helps in recycling significantly more water to the concentrator, while enabling mines to reduce their freshwater footprint, compared with traditional tailings impoundments.

“Further, the risk of tailings dam failure could be completely avoided by dewatering and dry stacking the tailings.

“Contrary to conventional belief, dry tailings are also much more capital expenditure and operational expenditure efficient, compared with wet or thickened tailings,” says Mining Equipment business area beneficiation solutions VP Niclas Hällevall.

Metso VPX Filter Recovers Water in Tailings

Metso Tailings Management Solutions bundles Metso’s proven beneficiation technologies into a full, customisable and future-ready suite of solutions.

With regard to the core component, Metso is now taking filtration technology to the next level by introducing the Metso VPX filter, a new generation filtration solution for maximum water recovery and reuse.

The Metso VPX filter can handle difficult-to-dewater tailings, because it has up to 25 bar of operating pressure, the highest pressure in its category. This enables up to 90% water recovery.

The Metso VPX is also equipped with a fully electromechanical drive system and no hydraulics, making it the safest solution on the market. With its modular design, the Metso VPX filter is scalable, as well as easily transportable to the site in standard containers.

The Metso VPX filter is available for mining customers globally.