Geotechnical Assessment for Supporting Re-Mining TSF Gold Tailing Using Conventional Excavator and Trucks Method

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_28How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tailing; TSF; Geotechnical Assessment

Abstract

Gosowong gold mine (operated by Newcrest Mining Limited through the NHM or Nusa Halmahera Minerals joint venture) started its gold production in 1999. The reported average gold ore grade during the early years of operation was around 24 grams of gold per ton (g/t) of ore. Although the mill recovery rate was around 95%, the processed ore residues or tailing still contained a significant amount of gold. The tailing was stored inside the Tailing Storage Facility (TSF) pond. Due to the rising prices of gold in recent years, the Gosowong mine plans to re-mine the gold tailing from the TSF. A conventional method using the excavator and truck is considered to be utilized. The plan is to divide TSF into several mining blocks by constructing causeways and mining one block at a time. The challenge is determining the causeway design, including the geosynthetic reinforcements that could hold the mobile equipment load and are robust enough under submersible conditions. The geotechnical assessment uses the Rocscience RS2 to evaluate several causeway design options and determine the suitable one. Model properties are validated against the actual data from the Mine Block Test result. The results provide the recommended geometries and reinforcement using durabase material during the causeway construction and the production period. The mine has implemented the recommendations successfully, and the re-mining is ongoing. This paper discusses the challenges of analyzing TSF’s causeway stability and geotechnical assessment process.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lufi Rachmad
AU  - Anas Abdul Latif
AU  - M. Ilham Naufal
AU  - Femalda Mafaza
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/07
TI  - Geotechnical Assessment for Supporting Re-Mining TSF Gold Tailing Using Conventional Excavator and Trucks Method
BT  - Proceedings of the Rocscience International Conference 2025 (RIC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 291
EP  - 299
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_28
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-900-1_28
ID  - Rachmad2025
ER  -