Avec le biopolymère de MetaFLO, les résidus miniers sont transformés en revêtements durables

Un défi courant dans les opérations minières a trouvé une nouvelle destination. Les résidus qui étaient auparavant entièrement mis au rebut sont maintenant réutilisés dans un test pilote utilisant le biopolymère SoilTech de MetaFLO, permettant la construction d'une piste d'essai stable et durable.

The objective of the test was to create sustainable pavement using non-hazardous mineral tailings, ensuring cohesion, strength, and durability. To achieve this, a 200-meter-long, 6-meter-wide, and 20-centimeter-thick test track was constructed, totaling 240 m³ of material, not considering bulking.

The solution used a composition of 60% flotation tailings and 40% waste rock tailings, both sourced from mining operations, with an approximate dry density of 2,100 kg/m³.

Applied at a dosage of only 0.02%, SoilTech acted as a soil stabilizer, ensuring material cohesion and enabling tailings previously treated as environmental liabilities to be transformed into a base layer for paving.

Four months after execution, the track remains trafficable, cohesive, and stable, even though the material is granulometrically classified as silt — known for its expansive behavior and low durability when used without a wearing course.

Beyond the technical gains, the project delivered clear benefits:

• Reuse of material previously considered to have no productive purpose
• Reduced environmental impact
• Greater efficiency in resource utilization

This is a practical example of how innovation and sustainability can move forward together, transforming longstanding challenges into intelligent solutions and advancing the industry to a new level with MetaFLO’s technologies.

About SoilTech

SoilTech is MetaFLO’s biopolymer designed for soil stabilization, improving cohesion, strength, and durability in rural roads, mining infrastructure, access roads, and sub-base layers.