Survey and comprehensive utilization recommendations for tailings in the eastern Hebei Province

Hebei, a prominent province in China known for its abundant mineral resources, particularly in the eastern Hebei Province where significant quantities of tailings are generated as byproducts of mining activities. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct thorough investigations and implement comprehensive utilization strategies for these tailings resources to achieve recycling, reduction, and environmentally benign treatment. This paper investigates the storage situation of tailings and waste rocks in the eastern Hebei Province, analyzes the physical and chemical properties of typical iron tailings and gold tailings in the area, and finally proposes comprehensive utilization suggestions. The findings indicate that the eastern Hebei Province have accumulated a total volume of 338.31 million m³ of tailings and 1 086.37 million m³ of waste rocks. Iron tailings accounting for the majority in this area with volumes reaching 330.79 million m³ follows by gold tailings with a volume of 7.52 million m³. Except for the iron tailings of Shuichang WN, 2# Sijiaying and Qingheyan, other iron tailings predominantly consist of sand（>89%）. With the exception of Qingheyan and Huanghuaiyu, most iron tailings display high SiO₂（>70%）. The primary mineral in iron tailings is quartz（>43%）, accompanied by biotite, plagioclase feldspar, orthoclase feldspar, hornblende, muscovite, and amphibole. Sanjia and Jinchangyu gold tailings consist mainly of sand（>90%）, while other gold tailings are relatively fine in partical size. Gold tailings is felsic rock tailings and contains lower SiO₂（57.69%-68.65%） than that iron tailings. Conversely, the Al₂O₃ content（9.32%-16.09%） in gold tailings is higher than that in iron tailings. The main minerals found in gold tailings are quartz, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, and muscovite; notably, the plagioclase content in gold tailings is significantly higher than that in iron tailings. Given the characteristics of iron tailings, those with larger particle sizes can be comprehensively utilized as building sand initially; those with smaller particle sizes can serve as raw building materials; and residual tailings can be used for land rehabilitation purposes. As regards for gold tailings, underground filling is recommended as a primary approach followed by utilizing residuals for producing building materials. The study has certain guiding significant for the comprehensive utilization of tailings resources in the eastern Hebei Province.