In the mining industry, key unit operations such as grinding, flotation, thickening, and tailings transport are negatively affected by the presence of clay minerals, which impart complex rheological behaviors to mineral suspensions by increasing their rheological properties. This deterioration arises from specific physicochemical characteristics of clay minerals such as fine particle size, anisotropic character, laminar morphology, and swelling capacity. This work reviews the effects of various rheology-modifying reagents on clay suspensions including kaolinite, illite, and montmorillonite. The reviewed reagents include inorganic salts, pH modifiers, polymers, surfactants, and nanoparticles. Their mechanisms of interaction with solid particles are analyzed, highlighting their influence on the degree of dispersion or aggregation. Furthermore, this review proposes research opportunities focused on the formulation of hybrid reagents, modified biopolymers, and the development of reagents effective under adverse conditions such as high salinity or elevated temperatures. This review provides a comprehensive basis for optimizing the use of rheological additives through more efficient and sustainable strategies for managing clay-rich suspensions in the mining industry.

The global problem of water scarcity is exacerbated by the continued contamination of potable water sources. This preliminary study investigates the potential of a hazardous industrial jarosite waste to adsorb As(V) and Cr(III) from contaminated waters. The results showed that this mining waste effectively adsorbed both As(V) and Cr(III), demonstrating its potential as a low-cost and sustainable solution for water remediation along with the use of a hazardous waste that also contaminates. The adsorption process was optimized, and the effects of various parameters on the adsorption capacity were investigated. The findings of this study suggest that the use of toxic mining residues in porous concrete could provide a promising approach for the removal of toxic heavy metals from polluted water sources, contributing to the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly water treatment technologies. A maximum adsorption of 90.6% of As(V) and 96.3% of Cr(III) was achieved, and it was verified that the industrial jarosite initially contained about 0.44% As, which was later leached during decomposition; again, the industrial jarosite was able to re-adsorb both As(V) and Cr(III).

The mining process has always generated residues that often still contain valuable metals. This work focuses on the re-processing of these residues by evaluating and comparing two reagents that can extract valuable silver from tailings. A preliminary kinetic study of silver leaching was conducted in both cyanide and thiosulfate media, and a comparative analysis was performed to determine the optimal leaching conditions. The mining residue was found to contain 83 g/ton of Ag and 0.28 g/ton of Au. This study, carried out for both cyanide and thiosulfate, involved determining the effects of the reagent concentration, temperature, and pH. For the reagent concentration, apparent reaction orders of n = 0.0531 and n = 0.41 were determined for cyanide and thiosulfate, respectively. The apparent activation energies were E_a = 21.7 kJ/mol for cyanide and E_a = 23.13 kJ/mol for thiosulfate, indicating mixed-control kinetics in both systems. Under the conditions studied, maximum silver recoveries of 92% and 93% were achieved using cyanide at 323 K and thiosulfate at 328 K, respectively. Notably, pH had no significant effect on the cyanide system, whereas for thiosulfate, the reaction order was n = 3.27. The results show similar behavior in both systems, but the thiosulfate system is more attractive due to its non-toxic nature and lower cost.

China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Russia have the largest deposits of rare earths. However, in recent works, the occurrence of light rare earth elements has been demonstrated in an exhalative sedimentary type mineral (SEDEX) in Mexico, with adequate Ce and Nd contents. Additionally, it is this mineral that has been used to study the cation exchange capacity of non-metallic minerals and organic materials, such as bentonite, diatomite, and eggshell. To carry out this work, the crushed and ground SEDEX ore was leached using HCl, H₂SO₄, and HNO₃. Subsequently, the liquid containing the Ce and Nd ions extracted from the mineral was put in contact with the respective ion exchangers, evaluating the effect of temperature and pH to determine the cation exchange efficiency of each exchanger tried. It was found that the best leaching results were achieved with the H₂SO₄, obtaining an extraction of Ce and Nd of 97.6% and 95.7%, respectively. On the other hand, in the case of cation exchange, the best results found for the extraction of Ce and Nd were using diatomite at a temperature of 323 K and a pH of 3, obtaining an extraction of 99.06% Ce and 99.07% Nd.

The generation of mining waste commonly led to the use of spaces for its disposal. Challenges like mitigating the damage to surrounding communities have promoted the need to reuse, recycle and/or reduce their generation. Besides, these residues may become a source of materials, which are capable of being recovered and reused in several industries, minimizing the environmental impact. In the mining region of Pachuca, Mexico, waste from the mining industry have been generated for more than 100 years, which have a high SiO₂ content that can be recovered for various industrial applications. This work aims to recover silica from a material of the Dos Carlos dam. A columnar system composed of two-stage of cleaning was used, considering a J_LT (surface liquid rate) value of 0.45 and 0.68 cm/s, respectively; while the J_g (surface gas rate) value was 0.30 cm/s for both stages. Similar bubble sizes in the range of J_g 0.10 to 0.30 cm/s, with values between 0.14 and 0.16 cm in the first stage, and 0.05 to 0.06 cm in the second one. This provided a recovery of 75.10% for all the allotropic phases of silica (quartz, trydimite, and cristobalite) leaving a concentration of 24.90% of a feldspathic phase (orthoclase), as flotation tails.

In this paper we present the production of alternative industrial materials from the mining waste in the form of tailings, this study was made with the tailings of Dos Carlos, establishing 4 sampling zones, dividing them into three strata in the bottom, middle and top. The sampling method used is quartering, to homogenize the material and anticipate the possible use of it as a building material, having for this purpose 12 ceramic mixtures for subsequent treatment. Chemical composition was determined as 70.43% SiO₂, 7.032% Al₂O₃, 2.69% Fe₂O₃, 0.46% MnO₂, 3.98% K₂O, 3.34% CaO, 2.50% Na₂O, 56 grams per tonne of Ag y 0.6 grams per tonne of Au. In the mineralogical characterization the tailings presents silica, albite, berlinite, orthoclase and potassium jarosite as the main mineral phases, among other mineral phases in lesser concentration such as gypsum, calcite, anorthoclase, pyrite, sphalerite and galena. The determinations of the tailing material granulometry in the range of 60% in a size less than 270 mesh (53 μm). Afterwards, the alternative industrial materials were produced by using the tailings and heavy clay in order to give the composite a good green strength and plasticity during development, but above all to give it a compressive strength similar or higher than that of products derived from conventional processes. Keywords: Tailings, green strength, compressive strength, plasticity, heavy clays, alternative industrial materials.