Design and implementation of an alternative process for the manufacture of bricks from gold mine tailings

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop a process for reusing tailings generated from the gold cyanidation process as raw material for the manufacture of construction bricks. This approach addresses two environmental problems: the use of toxic waste and the over-exploitation of natural resources like clay. The process includes thickening, neutralization, filtering, mixing, molding, drying, and sintering. The results show that the bricks produced meet the standards for compressive strength, absorption, and dimensional variation, demonstrating that mining tailings can be used as raw material in the construction industry.