Research progress and engineering practice on comprehensive utilization of tailings

As a special kind of bulk industrial solid waste, the stockpile of tailings has been increasing year by year, bringing about many safety and environmental protection problems, and has become one of the factors restricting China’s economic development and ecological protection. At present, the main disposal method of tailings is to enter the tailings ponds storage, but the safety and environmental protection issues caused by this method seriously constrain the sustainable development of enterprises and affect their economic benefits. In the past two decades, as a kind of secondary resources, the comprehensive utilization of tailings have received strong support from the country, as well as continuous attention from research institutions. The resource utilization pathways and methods of different types of tailings have been studied to varying degrees. Meanwhile, the engineering practice of tailings resource utilization has also made a breakthrough. Firstly, based on the domestic industry statistics, combined with the changes in the number of tailings ponds in Yunnan Province, the tailings ponds, tailings generation and comprehensive utilization of tailings are analyzed. Secondly, combined with the technology research and development and engineering practice of comprehensive utilization of tailings, the application cases of open pit tailings reclamation and mine tailings underground filling technology combined with ecological restoration in Yunnan Province are highlighted. In the application case, the application of relevant technologies effectively solved the problems of historical ecological environment damage and sustainable production of enterprises in the region. Finally, some suggestions are made for future research and development focus, which can provide a reference for future tailings resource utilization in the region.