Sci Eng Compos Mater 2019; 26:449–464

Review Article

Mifeng Gou*, Longfei Zhou, and Nathalene Wei Ying Then

Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A

review
https://doi.org/10.1515/secm-2019-0029
Received Jun 07, 2019; accepted Aug 20, 2019
1 Introduction
Abstract: One of the advantages of cement and the cement Mining is a fundamental industry in the development of
concrete industry in sustainability is the ability to utilize human society, playing an important role in the economies
large amounts of industrial solid wastes such as fly ash and of many countries around the world. There is little to ques-
ground granulated blast furnace slag. Tailings are solid tion the value of mining to society. However, during min-
wastes of the ore beneficiation process in the extractive in- ing, processing and metallurgical processes, it generates
dustry and are available in huge amounts in some coun- more and more solid wastes, which mainly include waste
tries. This paper reviews the potential utilization of tail- rock, tailings, and slag as shown in Figure 1.
ings as a replacement for fine aggregates, as supplemen- Tailings are a by-product of the ore beneficiation pro-
tary cementitious materials (SCMs) in mortar or concrete, cesses. After minerals or metal of value has been ex-
and in the production of cement clinker. It was shown in tracted from ore, the residuals rich in gangue miner-
previous research that while tailings had been used as a als are discharged as tailings with the associated pro-
replacement for both fine aggregate and cement, the work- cess water, which contains processing chemicals. Tailings
ability of mortar or concrete reduced. Also, at a constant as a form of the slurry are pumped through a pipeline
water to cement ratio, the compressive strength of concrete from the concentrator to the nearby storage facilities,
increased with the tailings as fine aggregate. However, the which include cross valleys, hillside dams, raised embank-
compressive strength of concrete decreased as the replace- ments/impoundments, and dry-stacking of thickened tail-
ment content of the tailings as SCMs increased, even when ings on land [2]. Tailings in the ponds are separated from
tailings were ground into smaller particles. Not much re- the process water under pressure filter or gravity and the
search has been dedicated to the durability of concrete water is recycled into the extraction process. However,
with tailings, but it is beneficial for heavy metals in tail- with the efficient grinding of ores, the sizes of tailings parti-
ings to stabilize/solidify in concrete. The clinker can be cles are becoming finer and finer, coupled with certain clay
produced by using the tailings, even if the tailings have a minerals absorbing water into its internal structure, thus
low SiO2 content. As a result, the utilization of tailings in the tailings are extremely difficult to separate from the wa-
cement and concrete will be good for the environment both ter [3].
in the solid waste processing and virgin materials using in Accompanied by the progress of human civilization,
the construction industry. the demand for mineral products is increasing for better
living standards worldwide, thus more and more ores are
Keywords: Tailings; Cement; Concrete; Clinker
mined. Coupled with the fact that ore grades are lower
than before, the scale of ore beneficiation is becoming

*Corresponding Author: Mifeng Gou: School of Materials Science

and Engeering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454003,
China; Email: [email protected]
Longfei Zhou: School of Materials Science and Engeering, Henan
Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454003, China
Nathalene Wei Ying Then: School of Civil and Construction Engi-
neering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 97331, United States of
America Figure 1: Mineral extraction from mining to metal [1]

Open Access. © 2019 M. Gou et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License
450 | M. Gou et al.

larger. As a result, more and more tailings are being and of using tailings as aggregate or supplementary cementi-
will be produced in the foreseeable future. According to tious materials (SCMs) in cement and concrete, so it helps
Jones et al. [4], 14 billion tonnes of tailings are produced to better reuse and/or recycle tailings.
annually worldwide. The Chinese government published
a report that the number of tailings produced in China in
2013 was 1.649 billion tonnes and that the accumulated
stock of tailings in China reached up to 14.6 billion tonnes
2 Properties of tailings
by the end of 2013 [5]. Some of the tailings in the form of
Tailings are just a general term, and the types of tailings
slurry contain metals, sulphide mineralization, and pro-
include but are not limited to metal tailings from iron,
cessing chemicals, which affect groundwater and surface
copper, gold, lead, zinc processing; and nonmetal tailings
water by seepage [6]. Failure of the tailings dams may lead
from oil sand, quartz, phosphate, forsterite processing ac-
to serious consequences. For example, the collapse of the
cording to their ore deposit. The types of tailings can be
Fundão Dam killed 18 people and contaminated coastal ar-
also classified into classes depending on the refining meth-
eas of Atlantic Ocean [7]. Similarly, more than 270 people
ods of minerals, known as gravity tailings, flotation tail-
died at the fall of the tailings dam that happened in Shanxi
ings, magnetic tailings, and chemical tailings in the ex-
Province, China in 2008. When dry tailings are stacked to-
tractive industry. However, the chemical compositions of
gether, they occupy a lot of land area, and may affect the
tailings are highly variable according to their types of tail-
air quality by the wind.
ings. Table 1 summarizes the chemical compositions of tail-
However, not all tailings are hazardous wastes and
ings obtained from different sources. The chemical com-
they can be a significant resource, for they have many use-
position of tailings primarily consists of SiO2 , Al2 O3 , CaO,
ful constituents. A lot of research has been done on how to
and Fe2 O3 and so on. However, the contents of all oxides
use tailings as a component for all kinds of materials. Ce-
have a large variation range in different types of tailings.
ment Paste Backfill (CPB) may be the most important ap-
For example, the content of SiO2 in phosphate tailings is
plication, which can be backfilled into abandoned open
2.1, in contrast to the 75.23 in iron ore tailings. Even if there
pit mines or as ground support in underground mines [8].
were all lead-zinc tailings or iron ore tailings, the variation
The technology of CPB can utilize the storage of up to
content of SiO2 is 15.50-69.92 in the lead-zinc tailings or
60% of the tailings, but the other 40% of the tailings will
24.19-75.23 in the iron ore tailings. As a result, if tailings
still remain and thus an alternative method to reuse the
are only classified according to their ore bodies or their re-
tailings must be found [9]. A lot of research focuses on
fining methods, it is not sufficient for material researchers
the applicability of metals recovery by reprocessing tail-
to understand the nature of tailings and to reuse tailings.
ings [10, 11], but it cannot dramatically reduce the stor-
The tailings are also very diverse in mineral phases
age amount of tailings after metals are recovered [12]. The
even in the lead-zinc tailings. Figure 2 presents the XRD
overall utilization of reduced storage amount of tailings
pattern of lead-zinc tailings coming from different re-
has become the focus of research as construction mate-
sources. Previous research [21] reveals that the mineral
rials, for instance it is used in brick [13, 14], autoclaved
phases of the lead-zinc tailings include calcite, dolomite,
aerated concrete [15, 16], ceramics [17], glass [18], and
quartz, kaolinite, galena, pyrite and gypsum, whereas
geopolymers/alkali-activated materials [19], et al.
other research [34] exhibits that there are two types of
As a matter of fact, Portland cement concrete is still
different lead-zinc tailings – one type has quartz, ortho-
one of the most important construction materials in the
clase, barite, albite, and chlorite as the main minerals
world, for the production of cement went up to 4.1 billion
phases; and the other has dolomite, calcite, barite, and
tonnes in 2017 [20]. It is estimated that more than 10 bil-
quartz. The mineral phases of pyrite tailings include kaoli-
lion cubic meters of concrete are produced worldwide, ac-
nite and pyrite [35], but the main mineral phases of phos-
cording to the cement output, and meanwhile the innova-
phate tailings are dolomite and apatite, according to XRD
tion of cement and concrete mix constituents provides a
patterns [32] shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.
chance to reuse or recycle solid wastes. If the tailings as
The physical properties of tailings are less different
one of the solid wastes are used in cement and concrete,
among all kinds of tailings compared to the chemical com-
it not only helps to reduce the storage amount of tailings,
positions and mineral phases of tailings. The size fractions
but also is beneficial to the sustainable development of the
of tailings are classified as “sand”, “silt”, and “clay” based
cement and concrete industry. The aim of this review is
on a variety of methods and standards in many mining op-
to re-assess the potential utilization of tailings for cement
erators [3]. With the progress of grinding technology, there
clinker production and the opportunities and challenges
Table 1: Chemical compositions of tailings (wt. %) used from the literature

References Type of tailings Sources SiO2 Al2 O3 Fe2 O3 CaO MgO SO3 K2 O Na2 O LOI
Nouairi, et al. [21] Zn-Pb tailings Tunisia 15.5 6.56 5.91 19.9 3.99 21.9 0.33 15.1
Zhang, et al. [22] Zn-Pb tailings China 69.92 10.41 1.89 2.19 1.39 0.55 2.17 0.51 3.68
Argane, et al. [23] Zn-Pb tailings Morocco 68.44 9.38 2.2 1.99 0.48 0.449 5.46 0.7
Jankovic, et al. [24] Zn-Pb tailings Serbia 43.26 11.11 15.57 20.01 4.31 0.32 1.00 0.92 5.61
Cheng, et al. [25] Iron tailings China 75.23 2.64 11.31 1.47 2.10 0.08 0.40 0.49
Fontes, et al. [26] Iron tailings Brazil 24.19 4.82 45.92 4.06
Shettima, et al. [27] Iron tailings Malaysia 56 10 8.3 4.3 1.5 3.3
Zhao, et al. [28] Iron tailings China 52.06 17.14 9.13 12.74 3.68 0.3 0.97 3.23
Thomas, et al. [29] Copper tailings India 75.0 12.16 3.60 0.16 0.49 1.85 4.297 2.10
Kiventera, et al. [30] Gold tailings Finland 49.9 10.4 9.7 11.1 5.9 1.3 3.0 12.9
Ye et al. [31] Bauxite tailings China 32.24 37.39 8.67 3.15 0.85 13.74
Zheng, et al. [32] Phosphate tailings China 2.1 0.1 0.8 36.8 18.9 1.0 0.1 35.8
Pyo, et al. [33] Quartz-based tailings Korea 79.53 9.52 3.22 0.51 0.64 3.24 0.72 2.46
Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review |
451
452 | M. Gou et al.

Figure 2: XRD pattern of lead-zinc tailings [21]/[34]

Figure 4: XRD pattern of phosphate tailings before and after alkali-

Figure 3: XRD pattern of pyrite tailings [35]
treatment [32]

are more and more “silt” and “clay” in the tailings, and
even if tailings are used as aggregate, the maximum size 3 Utilization of tailings as
of tailings is less than 1 mm in some literature [34, 36]. In aggregate
general, the tailings have a highly rough and irregular sur-
face [28], since the grindability of various mineral phases In general, concrete includes coarse aggregate and fine
in the tailings is different. Due to the mineral phases, the aggregate, but tailings are merely used as partial or full
tailings have a varied density and water absorption, which replacements of fine aggregate, since their particles are
is also remarkably affected by the particle size as shown in fine with a diameter less than 1 mm. The physical prop-
Figure 5. erties of tailings have a significant impact on the worka-
bility, density, dimensional stability, strength, and dura-
bility of concrete. Sometimes tailings, especially metallic
 Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review | 453

Figure 6: Water absorption in concrete with and without iron ore

tailings [27]

3.2 Effect on hardened properties

Figure 5: SEM images of iron ore tailings [28] Similar to the fresh mortar or concrete mixtures, re-
searchers noticed an increase in the densities of hardened
mixtures when tailings, such as iron ore tailings [36], lead-
tailings, contain a thimbleful of deleterious heavy metal, zinc tailings [38], and copper tailings [29], were used as an
which may cause environmental concerns or modify the aggregate replacement. Also, as a result of a higher spe-
hydration processes and durability of mortar or concrete cific gravity of tailings, mortar prepared with fractional re-
mixtures [37, 38]. placement content of aggregate by tailings was proved to
be effective in radiation shielding [42].
Water absorption is a physical property of hardened
3.1 Effect on fresh properties mortar or concrete and is related to the porosity of mor-
tar and concrete. Most published research has revealed
Workability, which is defined as the ease of transporta- that mortar or concrete containing tailings as fine aggre-
tion, placement, compaction and finishing of the mixture, gate had a higher water absorption percentage due to cap-
is an important property of fresh mortar or concrete mix- illarity [26] or higher fine content and specific surface area
tures [39]. It was found that the flow of mortar decreased values of tailings [38]. Shettima et al. [27] described that
with increasing tailing substitution levels because tailings concrete with tailings absorbed more water than control
had a finer particles size distribution which raised the total specimen; but water absorption decreased with increase
specific surface area of fine aggregates [26, 38, 40]. A simi- in the age as shown in Figure 6, for the tailings occupied
lar consequence applied to concrete. A decrease in a slump the macro and micro pores in the mix. However, Sant’ana
was observed up to the inclusion of 100% tailings substi- et al. [36] confirmed that the water absorption of con-
tution as fine aggregate. This might be attributed to parti- crete reduced up to the inclusion of 80% tailing substitu-
cle size and surface texture of tailings, which may demand tion as fine aggregate, for tailings occupied the pores of
more water and hence reduce the workability [27, 40, 41]. the cement paste because of the fill effect. The variation
The setting time of mortar extended when the tail- of water absorption and porosity of concrete using tail-
ings were incorporated as a replacement of fine aggregate, ings as aggregate is shown in Figure 7. In contrast, other
for the heavy metals in tailings retarded the hydration of researchers [23, 28] displayed different results about the
cement by forming a low permeability layer around ce- porosity, and they considered that the total porosity in-
ment clinker un-hydrated grains [23]. The utilization of tail- creased with an increase of the tailings content as illus-
ings as fine aggregate replacement enhanced the density trated in Figure 8.
of fresh mixtures, for the reason of the increase was at- Mechanical properties, which include compressive
tributed to the higher specific gravity of tailings than that strength, flexural strength, tensile strength, adhesive
of natural sand [29, 41]. Besides that, Fontes et al. [26] con- strength and so on, are the most common assessments for
sidered that the increased packing of the grains was also hardened concrete. Utilization of tailings as aggregate in
a reason due to more fines content in mixtures comprising mortar and concrete presented various effects on the com-
tailings. pressive strength. With a constant water to cement ratio,
the compressive strength of mortar or concrete incorporat-
454 | M. Gou et al.

Authors concluded that this was due to the finer parti-

cles of tailings which filled the pores and optimized the
pore structure [27]. Table 2 demonstrates the increase of
compressive strength of concrete with tailings. Fisonga et
al. [44], Sant’ana et al. [36] and Thomas et al. [29] observed
that the compressive strength of concrete improved with
increasing tailing contents, but beyond a limited replace-
ment content of fine aggregate, the compressive strength
of concrete decreased. Figure 9 shows that the replace-
ment threshold of fine aggregate possibly relates to the wa-
Figure 7: Water absorption and porosity results [36] ter to cement ratio and ages. Since the tailings need more
water to achieve the same workability, mortar or concrete
containing tailings as fine aggregates had a higher water
to cement ratio than the control specimens, which lead to
the compressive strength decrease when tailings were uti-
lized as fine aggregates [28, 45]. The utilization of 10% tail-
ings as fine aggregates in mortar or concrete, even at the
same water to cement ratio as well as the control speci-
mens, reduced the compressive strengths, and the authors
described that the loss of strength was mainly related to
the retarding effect of heavy metal in tailings [36, 38].

Table 2: Compressive strength of concrete with and without tailings

Curing age (days) T0 T25 T50 T75 T100

7 32.0 31.9 30.2 32.8 29.3
14 34.3 35.7 35.3 35.1 33.1
28 38.0 42.9 42.0 41.9 38.5

Figure 8: Pore size distribution of mortar containing iron ore tail-

ings [28]

Figure 9: Compressive strength of concrete containing tailings [29]

ing tailings was found to increase for those including up
to 100% tailing substitutions with respect to control spec-
imens. For example, the compressive strength of mortar For flexural strength, Xu et al. [40] and Thomas et
with 100% tailings as a fine aggregate was 13% higher than al. [29] considered that there was also a threshold of tail-
that for the control specimen [26], whereas the percentage ings substitution for a constant water to cement ratio as
increase of concrete compressive strength relative to con- showed in Figure 10, but other authors confirmed that the
trol was 10.2% for 75% tailings substitution at 28 days. Lv flexural strength rises with the utilization of tailings up
et al. [43] came to a similar conclusion to Fontes’ research. to 100% replacement of fine aggregate [41]. The same was
 Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review | 455

found to be true for tensile strength. Shettima et al. [27] fic, and the abrasion resistance test is done to measure
considered that a 25% tailing substitution as a fine ag- the mass loss or the depth of wear. Sant’ana et al. [36]
gregate was the optimum concentration for the tensile confirmed that the mass loss of concrete increased with
strength of concrete, and the tensile strengths of concrete an increasing percentage of the tailings. However, for the
with tailings were always higher than the control concrete. replacement of fine aggregate by 10% and 20% tailings,
In contrast, Gallala et al. [42] reported that the tensile there was a smaller mass loss than control concrete. Other
strength decreased for the concrete containing tailings as authors also have similar results. Gupta et al. [41] detected
fine aggregate, and only at 20% and 25% replacement of that the utilization of 10% tailings as fine aggregate had a
fine aggregate with tailings, the tensile strength of con- lower depth of wear of the concrete with tailings than con-
crete was very close to the control specimen. trol specimen. When the water to cement ratio was 0.4 and
0.5, the least abrasion could be observed at a 20% tailing
substitution as a fine aggregate [29].
The permeability, defined as the rate of viscous flow
of fluids or other potentially deleterious substances under
pressure through the pore structure, has an important ef-
fect on the durability of concrete. The use of 10% tailings
as fine aggregate in concrete had much the same water per-
meability compared to that of control concrete, but the wa-
ter permeability of concrete increased gradually as the per-
centage of tailings reached up to 80% [41]. Other authors
had similar results in water permeability, but due to the
denser packing of tailings in concrete for tailings substi-
tution, the air permeability of concrete decreased continu-
ally with the increasing of tailings substitution as a fine
aggregate [29]. For chloride ion penetration in concrete,
Figure 10: Flexural strength of mortars [40] Shettima et al. [27] observed that concrete including tail-
ings had higher chloride ion permeability than control con-
crete, but Thomas et al. [29] confirmed that the chloride
There were different variation trends for the dry- ion permeability decreased continuously from the control
ing shrinkage of concrete with tailings as fine aggregate concrete till 30% substitution for 0.4 or 0.5 of the water to
among different authors. Gupta et al. [41] noticed that the cement ratio and the reason was the tailings reducing the
shrinkage strains of all the concrete with 10%-80% tail- pores of concrete.
ings as a fine aggregate were higher than those of the con- Thomas et al. [29] researched the resistance of con-
trol. Thomas et al. [29] found a decreasing trend in shrink- crete to sulphate attack and noticed that the concrete with
age strain value from 10% to 30% tailings substitution as tailings was similar to the control specimens, in which
fine aggregate, and beyond that replacement content, the they were resistant against sulphate attacks. In contrast,
value started to increase at 7, 28, 56 and 91 days when wa- Shettima et al. [27] using 5% H2 SO4 solution described that
ter to cement ratios were 0.4 and 0.5. In contrast, Shettima the weight of concrete containing tailings decreased more
et al. [27] presented the opposite results of drying shrink- than the control specimens and considered that the fine-
age to the research of Gupta, and revealed that all drying ness of tailings and the direct attack on the aluminosilicate
shrinkage of concrete with tailings were lower compared framework by breaking the bonds were the reasons for con-
to control concrete. The mortar was used to test the drying crete with tailings decreasing the weight. At the same time,
shrinkage by Argane et al. [38], and authors observed that the authors also found that carbonation depth decreased
similar drying shrinkage results were obtained for mortars as the percentage of tailings in concrete mixes increased.
with tailings as fine aggregate and control mortar. However, Gupta et al. [41] revealed that the carbonation
depth of concrete increased with increasing replacement
amounts of tailings.
3.3 Effect on durability performance

The abrasion resistance of concrete sometimes refers to

wear on pavements and industrial floors by vehicular traf-
456 | M. Gou et al.

cined together to prepare new SCMs [64, 65]. Grinding and

4 Utilization of tailings as calcining can be used together for the treatment of tailings.
supplementary cementitious Cumulative heat of untreated and treated tailings and rela-
tion between mass loss under 650∘ C and increase in poz-
material zolanic capacity were shown in Figure 12 [66].

The process of cement production consumes a lot of en-

ergy and emits a significant amount of CO2 . To lessen these
amounts, all kinds of industrial solid wastes containing
high silica are used to replace cement as supplementary
cementitious materials (SCMs), such as blast furnace slag
[46], fly ash [47], steel slag [48], et al., in cement mixes. The
chemical composition of tailings, as presented in Table 1,
shows that some tailings have high silica content. In ad-
dition, the particle size of tailings is about the same size
as cement particles, so some researchers [49–52] focus on
the properties of concrete containing tailings as SCMs for
partial replacement of cement.

4.1 Treatment of tailings

SCMs are either pozzolanic, cementitious, or both cemen-

titious and pozzolanic. However, due to the poor cementi-
tious property of tailings, several important steps of treat-
ment should be considered prior to the utilization of tail- Figure 11: Particle size distributions of tailings after grinding during
ings in concrete as SCMs, namely: drying, grinding, and/or the different time [58]
calcining. Unfortunately, very few research papers in the
concrete industry have discussed how the tailings are
dried. Only Onuaguluchi et al. [53, 54] describes that the
tailing samples were air dried and then sieved with a 600 4.2 Effect on hydration reactions
µm sieve. Other researchers [55] suggested that the tail-
ings only passed a 45µm square hole sieve as a treatment The foundation of using tailings as SCMs for partial re-
method before it was used. placement of cement is based on the hydration reaction
Some research [56, 57] used grinding as a treatment of tailings with Ca(OH) in cement paste, so the Ca(OH)
2 2
method for tailings, and the representative particle size content can assess the reaction of tailings in cement paste.
distributions of the tailings are given in Figure 10 after Cheng et al. [25] figured out the contents of Ca(OH)
2
the tailings were ground at different durations [58]. Mean- in hardened cement paste with tailings substitution as
while, with the decrease of particle size and the increase SCMs by using TG-DTA technology and the authors found
of specific surface area after grinding, the internal struc- that the content of Ca(OH) in control hardened cement
2
ture and physical and/or chemical properties of tailings paste was 21.367%, whereas the contents of Ca(OH) were
2
may change as well [25]. Besides, tailings mixed with some 16.856% and 15.064% in hardened cement-tailings paste
chemical activators were ground together by a ball mill with tailings substitution amounts 20% and 30% respec-
and this is mechanical and chemical activation of tailings tively. They concluded that it is the pozzolanic activity of
[59]. tailings which causes the secondary hydration reaction.
Calcination is the other treatment method for tailings Wong et al. [63] also displayed that the tailings were effec-
[60, 61]. Through the calcining process, some of the min- tive in reducing the amount of Ca(OH) in blended cement
2
erals in tailings decompose and the crystal structures of paste, but the pozzolanic activity of tailings in blended ce-
minerals are destroyed, while amorphous minerals arise, ment paste was lower than silica fume and metakaolin.
which have high pozzolanic activity [62, 63]. Sometimes, The total amount of heat liberated and the rates of heat
tailings were mixed with other solid waste and then cal- liberation from hydration of cement paste can be used as
 Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review | 457

indices of cement reactivity. Han et al. [58] determined the 4.4 Effect on hardened properties
heat of hydration of cement paste blended fine tailings and
coarse tailings at varying water to cement ratios. The rates Xiong et al. [55] described that owing to the pozzolanic re-
of heat liberation and the cumulative amount of heat lib- action of tailings, more hydrates were generated and filled
erated are shown in Figure 11. The authors considered that pores, which in turn decreased the porosity and critical
the heat of hydration of tailings was very low at an early pore diameter. Wong et al. [63] revealed as well that the
age and that the approximately identical rates of heat lib- tailings as SCMs reduced the average size of the pore di-
eration of cement paste with fine tailings to control cement ameter. In contrast, Han et al. [58] researched the effect of
paste, were because tailings reduced the cement content coarse tailings and fine tailings on the pore structures of
and increased the effective water to cement ratio - promot- a hardened paste containing tailings, and confirmed that
ing the hydration of cement. Moreover, the fine particle coarse tailings increased the critical pore diameter and
size of tailings acts as a nucleation site for hydration of had a negative impact on the pore structure, but fine tail-
cement, further increases the hydration degree of the ce- ings decreased the critical pore diameter.
ment. Wang et al. [67] and Zheng et al. [32] obtained sim- The utilization of tailings as cement replacement re-
ilar results by using cement paste blended tailings or the duced the compressive strength with an increase in the
same content of quartz, and concluded that the effect of proportion of the tailings, irrespective of the age of con-
tailings on the whole hydration process was mainly due to crete or mortar [25, 32, 37, 56, 57, 69, 70]. The typical com-
the dilution effect. pressive strength curve is presented in Figure 12. The de-
crease was due to the low pozzolanic activity of tailings as
SCMs even as a ground powder. Nevertheless, sometimes
4.3 Effect on fresh properties a certain concentration of fine tailings could enhance the
compressive strength of concrete with tailings as SCMs be-
Generally, the slump of a concrete mix decreases with in- cause the fine tailings powder could fill miniscule pores
creasing percentages of tailings as partial replacements of to accelerate the hydration of cement, whereas other con-
cement. Guo et al. [62] found that the slump of concrete de- centrations of tailings decreased the compressive strength
clined from 150mm to 8mm with 40% tailings as replace- [58, 59, 63, 71, 72]. Franco de Carvalho et al. [73] proved that
ment of cement. Wong et al. [63] described as well that when fine basic oxygen furnace slag tailings were used
the slump of concrete reduced from 200mm to 120mm due as supplementary cementitious material, the compressive
to a replacement of 7.5% by mass of cement with tailings. strength with 20% fine tailings replacement was the high-
Even if mortar was used, the reduction in flow value was est. When 40% coarse tailings and 20% fine tailings were
inversely proportional to the increase in tailings content in added, the strength was lower than that of the control con-
the mortar [68]. However, Sancak et al. [69] observed that crete, but it was still close to the control concrete. By using
the slump value improved by approximately 15mm and did calcined tailings in which metakaolin was created from the
not change with the tailings substitution amount from 5% kaolinite, the compressive strength of concrete improved
to 40%. Zheng et al. [32] revealed that the decrease in the and had a maximum with an optimum concentration of
water demand for standard consistency of cement paste, tailings [35, 62]. When the tailings as an additive were not
along with the increasing tailings content in blended ce- a replacement of cement, the compressive strength of con-
ment paste, contributed to the reduction in a total surface crete with tailings was higher than the control concrete ow-
area with the tailings. ing to the filler effect [54, 74].
The setting time of cement paste extended up to the Wong et al. [63] obtained the static modulus values
inclusion of 30% tailings substitution as SCMs, mainly of rupture and elasticity of concrete with 7.5% tailings as
due to the dilution effect of tailings and partially due to SCMs and found that the concrete containing tailings had
the phosphorus dissolution from phosphate tailings [32]. marginal increases in modulus values of rupture and elas-
When 7.5% tailings were used as SCMs, the air content ticity with respect to the control concrete. Moreover, the
and unit weight of freshly mixed concrete were not signifi- authors also noticed that the concrete incorporating tail-
cantly different from the control concrete [63]. ings as cement replacement experienced smaller shrink-
age under air curing and smaller expansion under moist
curing compared to control concrete. However, Zheng et al.
[32] showed the increase in percentages of dry shrinkage
in Figure 13 with a minimum when the content of tailings
was 10%. The authors considered that tailings, which were
458 | M. Gou et al.

Figure 12: Cumulative heat (J/g of SCM) of untreated (dashed line) and treated (700 C, 30 min grinding) tailings. 2. Relation between mass
loss under 650 C and increase in pozzolanic capacity, measured as cumulative heat release at 7 days [66]

Figure 13: The heat of hydration cement paste containing fine tailings at w/c ratio of 0.4 [58]

non-hydraulic, as a replacement of cement restrained the

shrinkage; whereas as in cement with tailings substitution,
the number of hydration products reduced and the poros-
ity of hardened cement paste increased, thereby promot-
ing the dry shrinkage. For autogenous shrinkage, Wang et
al. [67] proved that with the increase of cement replace-
ment by tailings, the autogenous shrinkage of concrete de-
creased to different degree. With tailings replacing 20%
of cement, the autogenous shrinkage of concrete was the
most. This can be explained by different mechanisms. On
the one hand, the replacement by tailings restricts the ce-
ment initial hydration of concrete. On the other hand, with
a further increase of the added tailings, the microstructure
and strength of the concrete can be negatively affected,
which may lower structuring of a stiff hydrated skeleton
Figure 14: Compressive strength development of cement with tail-
that can withstand internal stresses induced by capillary
ings [32]
stress due to self-desiccation. Autogenous shrinkage of
 Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review | 459

ings content and these results showed that the concrete in-
corporating tailings enhanced the chloride penetration re-
sistance compared to the control specimens [54].
Onuaguluchi et al. [54] researched the mass loss of
concrete specimens after exposure to the hydrochloric acid
solution and displayed that the concrete containing tail-
ings had a lower mass loss because of the secondary hy-
dration reaction induced by tailings, which reduced the
Ca(OH)2 available for the acid attack in specimens. The
sulfate resistance of mortar with tailings as partial replace-
ment of cement was investigated, and slight increases in
expansion values of mortars with increasing tailing substi-
tutions were observed. The increased expansion was due
to the higher water permeability of mortar with tailings
Figure 15: Effect of tailings on drying shrinkage [32] and the formation of gypsum and expansive ettringite in
mortar specimens compared to the control [54]. In con-
trast, Xiong et al. [55] confirmed that the tailings enhanced
the sulfate resistance of cement paste in both sodium sul-
fate and magnesium sulfate solutions, wherein the expan-
sion of cement pastes with tailings in sodium sulfate so-
lution was larger than those in magnesium sulfate solu-
tion. At the same time, the cement paste with tailings had a
smaller compressive strength loss when cement pastes are
exposed to the sodium sulfate solution and magnesium
sulfate solution [55].
Wong et al. [63] studied the alkali-silica reaction of
mortar containing tailings and the authors found that the
replacement of cement by 7.5% tailings reduced the expan-
sion, the cracking, and surface deteriorations of mortar. Af-
Figure 16: Autogenous shrinkage of concrete pastes with different ter 300 cycles of freeze-thaw, the concrete containing 7.5%
content of tailings content [67] tailings had a higher relative dynamic modulus of elastic-
ity and durability factor against to the control concrete [63].
According to Choi et al. [68], the amount of leaching of
concrete pastes with different content of tailings is showed
heavy metals in tailings was equal to or higher than the
in Figure 16.
standard values, but the mortar containing tailings had
lower leaching quantities of heavy metals, which were sta-
bilized/solidified by the cement hydration. Through semi-
4.5 Effect on durability performance
dynamic leaching tests, Kundu et al. [37] found that the
release of heavy metals decreased with an increase of the
Rapid chloride permeability tests (RCPT) were conducted
tailings content in a mortar.
by Wong et al. [63] and the authors noticed that the ad-
dition of tailings reduced the pore sizes, thus lowering
the permeability, but the permeability reduction in con-
crete with tailings was marginal with respect to the con- 5 Utilization of tailings for cement
trol. By comparison, Onuaguluchi et al. [54] revealed that
after RCPT, the total charge transmitted through the con-
clinker production
crete blended tailings were higher than that of the control
The preparation of cement clinker, which has a huge pro-
concrete and authors confirmed the presence of copper in
duction amount each year, has been one of the methods to
the tailings, which led to an increased conductivity of the
deal with various solid wastes [75, 76]. Meanwhile, most of
concrete with tailings during the tests. However, the chlo-
the tailings consist mainly of SiO2 , Al2 O3 , Fe2 O3 , CaO as
ride penetration depths declined with the increase in tail-
shown in Table 1, so the tailings are used as the raw mate-
460 | M. Gou et al.

rials for cement clinker production [77–79]. The sintering tailings as cement replacement to investigate the effect of
temperature declined down 100-150∘ C by using tailings tailings on the properties of mortar or concrete [71]. The
as clay for cement clinker calcinations, especially when grinding method is used as the treatment for tailings, and
the medium calcium limestone was used together [80]. consumes a lot of energy. It is not better than the sieving
Due to the existence of trace elements and particular min- method, for the tailings are becoming finer with the sub-
eral compositions of tailings, the utilization of tailings im- micrometer ore grinding in the extractive industry. More-
proved the burnability of raw materials and promoted the over, through the sieving process, the coarse particles of
formation of C3 S, which enhanced the mechanical proper- tailings can be used as aggregate and the fine particles of
ties of cement [81, 82]. Furthermore, the usage of tailings tailings can be used as the replacement of cement or filler
as alumino-silicate materials promoted the solid state re- material in concrete or cement mortar. In contrast, calcina-
actions and accelerated the reactivity of raw material [81]. tion is especially suitable for tailings with high contents
For the chemical compositions of tailings were quite var- of kaolinite because metakaolin, which has a high poz-
ied, sometimes the tailings with high SiO2 content could zolanic activity, is created by calcining the kaolinite in tail-
not be used for cement clinker production [83], or the tail- ings. Furthermore, the utilization of tailings in cement and
ings with high amounts of impurity oxides could only be concrete may increase a certain cost for the treatment of
used as mineralizer, so the usage dosages of tailings for ce- tailings before its recycled application. However, for more
ment clinker production were less than 5% [84]. However, and more attention is focused on the harm of tailings to the
special cement such as sulfobelite clinker, high-belite ce- environment [89, 90], the social and environmental bene-
mentitious materials was prepared with tailings with a low fits of utilization of tailings in cement and concrete should
SiO2 content [21, 85, 86]. On the other hand, the raw meal be taken into account in the future, not only the cost in us-
within 10% high-magnesium and low-silicon iron ore tail- ing the tailings.
ings (IOT) addition sintered at 1420∘ C for one hour can Generally, tailings used as partial aggregate or cement
produce better quality cement clinker than without IOT replacement has an adverse effect on the workability of
[81, 87]. Besides, the leached heavy metals decreased con- fresh concrete and mortar due to the increase in the total
siderably in clinker, so the cement clinker production by specific area [26, 38, 62]. However, by eliminating the finer
using tailings can help in the immobilization of heavy met- sizes of tailings as a cement replacement, the adverse ef-
als in tailings [21]. The concentrations of metal contami- fect on workability can be reduced [33]. The setting time of
nants in the clinker are very low and there is not risk of cement paste and mortar extended by using tailings substi-
leaching or transportation [88]. tution as aggregate, or SCMs, for different reasons [23, 32].
According to the summarized findings, the utilization
of tailings as aggregate often resulted in an increase in the
compressive strength with a constant water to cement ra-
6 Discussion tio, and the main reason for the increase in compressive
strength is because the tailings have a finer particle size
Tailings are traditionally named according to their sources,
to fill the pores of mortar or concrete. By comparison, at
the ore body, for example iron ore tailings, lead-zinc tail-
the same workability of mortar or concrete with tailings as
ings, copper tailings, gold tailings, oil sands tailings, and
fine aggregate, the compressive strength decreased, for the
so on. Researchers making materials often use this classi-
tailings need more water, which leads to a higher water to
fication method, but it does have some limitations, for it
cement ratio. Hence, considering the compressive strength
cannot reflect the nature of the tailings and its technologi-
and the workability of mortar and concrete, it is generally
cal characteristics. In fact, according to the mineralogical
recommended to adopt no more than 30% tailings substi-
compositions and properties of tailings, it is helpful for ma-
tution as fine aggregate based on the literature. The effect
terial researchers to use tailings as recycled materials. In
of tailings as cement replacement on compressive strength
other words, according to the dominated mineral phases,
is generally negative because of the low pozzolanic activity
tailings can be loosely classified as silicate minerals, car-
of tailings as SCMs even if the tailings are ground. In con-
bonate minerals, feldspar minerals, clay minerals, and so
trast, there could be a beneficial effect on the compressive
on.
strength due to the filler effect and a high pozzolanic activ-
The treatment of tailings is the first step for using tail-
ity of calcined tailings, which have high kaolinite content.
ings as an ingredient in cement and concrete, but the fine
Despite not having much more literature about dura-
solid particles of tailings are difficult to separate from the
bility performance, the utilization of tailings both as ag-
tailings water [3]. Thus, it is a good idea to use pre-wetted
gregate and as SCMs has a contrasting effect on the dura-
 Utilization of tailings in cement and concrete: A review | 461

bility of concrete. The chloride ion penetration in concrete cause of the heavy metals solidification in the tail-
with tailings increased [27, 54], whereas other authors con- ings.
sidered that the chloride ion permeability decreased con- • The clinker can be produced by using the tailings,
tinuously using tailings [29, 63]. A similar situation per- and even if the tailings have a low SiO2 content,
sists in the sulfate resistance and the carbonation of mor- it can be still used to prepare the special cement
tar or cement concrete with tailings [27, 41]. For the leach- clinker.
ing amount of heavy metals, it is considered that mortar • Finally, the utilization of the tailings in cement and
containing tailings had lower leaching quantities of heavy concrete will be good for the environment both in
metals [37, 68], but there is insufficient literature available the solid waste processing and virgin materials us-
to confirm this. ing in the construction industry.
Usually, tailings can be used as raw materials for
cement clinker production. However, since the chemical Acknowledgement: The first author gratefully acknowl-
compositions of tailings are quite varied, sometimes the edges the financial supports of the National Natural Sci-
tailings can only be used as a mineralizer for cement ence Foundation of China (U1704148) and China Scholar-
clinker production [83]. Besides, the tailings with high al- ship Council (201707770003).
kali content have not been considered for cement clinker
production, and much more research on the effect of the
metal in the tailings on the clinker mineral phases and
the hydration products of cement prepared with tailings
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