Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi / Mineral Resources Management, cilt.42, sa.1, ss.69-92, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The problem of managing the high amounts of mine tailings has become important with the increase in production in mining activities. The tailings must be stored or disposed of in a controlled manner to eliminate or minimize their negative effects such as air, water, and soil pollution. In particular, the tailings of metal mines have acid mine drainage (AMD) risk and must be stored under safe conditions. The use of these tailings in an appropriate industry, such as concrete production, will increase the sustainability of mining activities. This study investigates the effect of gold (AuT), lead-zinc (LZT), copper (CuT), and iron (FeT) metal mine tailings as a partial substitution base material for aggregate in concrete in terms of mechanical and environmental aspects using uniaxial compression strength (UCS) tests and pH measurements, respectively. The results indicated that the strength of the reference concrete without tailing (32 MPa) could be reached or even exceeded by tailing substituted mortar samples with 5% AuT, 5% CuT, and 20% LZT. The strength of several mortar samples increased with the curing time due to the filler effect and pozzolanic activity, while it decreased due to the clay effect and sulfate attacks depending on the tailing type and the substitution ratio. The pH value of the tailings, which was between 8.5 and 9.5, was not affected significantly by atmospheric oxidation. When these tailings were used in concrete production, the suspension pH approached 13 due to the alkaline properties of the cement, almost eliminating the AMD risk.