With MetaFLO’s Biopolymer, Mining Tailings Are Transformed into Sustainable Pavement

A common challenge in mining operations has found a new destination. Tailings that were previously fully discarded are now being reused in a pilot test using MetaFLO’s SoilTech biopolymer, enabling the construction of a stable and durable test track.

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.