GEOMORPHOLOGICAL RESTORATION ON TAILING DEPOSITS: A STUDY CASE APPLIED TO THE RIO BLANCO MINING CONCESSION, ECUADOR

Abstract

This study presents two separate assessments to contribute to the development of a sustainable mining industry with low environmental impact that minimizes possible social conflicts related with this activity. The first is how to apply the concept of geomorphological restoration on degraded spaces to establish geoenvironmental integration proposals, focused on the restoration of mining areas altered by the tailing deposit of the Rio Blanco project, Azuay province-Ecuador, based on the modeling with GeoFluv method and the Natural Regrade software. The second is an analysis of the general aspects of the mining activity in Ecuador, its cautions, and the environmental problems that could show tailing deposits. The main result of the current study has been a stable design that simulates natural conditions, which although it loses a storage capacity of 15% relative to the conventional design, it maximizes the volume of tailings to be accumulated. This significantly increases the stability and environmental integration that would have the tailing deposit.