Ontario’s mining industry is currently involved in eight backfill test projects directed at finding safe and cost-effective alternatives to widely used methods of backfill.
The testing is being done under a $3.55-million productivity and technology program set up by the Canada-Ontario Mineral Development Agreement (comda), a co- operative, 5-year, $30-million venture signed by the federal and Ontario governments in 1985.
Backfilling is the most common method of providing regional support and ground control within mines and usually involves mill tailings which are used to fill voids and to stabilize areas after ore has been mined.
Determining what would make a suitable fill, how to prepare and place it, and what its behavior will be once in place and how that behavior may change over time are some of the question the comda program is designed to answer.
Two projects nearing completion involve investigation of a material called “dense” or “paste” fill. Like usual fill, this material is composed of mill tailings, water and a binder. Unlike usual fill, the water content is much reduced, amounting to about 20% by weight; the binder may be cement or a combination of cement and fly ash.
The research which is examining the best combination of materials and its placement and its behavior in place is generating much interest in the mining community, comda reports. The work on paste fill is being carried out at Placer Dome’s Dome mine in South Porcupine and by Inco Ltd. at its Levack mine.
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