"GeoStable Tailings" commingles tailings and waste rock into a specified mix for deposition in a single repository, creating an engineered material with superior physical and hydraulic properties.
"Commingling", as defined within the context of GeoStable Tailings, is the engineered mixing of waste rock and tailings. This commingled material combines the physical properties of both waste rock and tailings. The rock maintains clast-to-clast contact, retaining compressibility and shear strength similar to waste rock while tailings, which fill the voids, control the hydraulic properties.
Geotechnically Stable means possessing consistent strength characteristics without significant strength reduction under undrained shearing conditions at design stress levels, whether saturated or unsaturated.
Geochemically Stable means minimal or limited potential for waste material to undergo adverse chemical reactions and transformations, leaching, or other processes that result in the release of constituent elements that could negatively impact surrounding ecosystems, surface water, or groundwater.
Co-disposal: The integrated management of both tailings and waste rock, whereby they are disposed of together in a single, engineered facility. There are several forms of co-disposal, including commingling, that differ in degree of mixing, geometric arrangement, ratio of waste rock to tailings, water content, and level of development.
