Production of sustainable sand from tailings

According to United Nations estimates, global demand for sand is about 40 billion to 50 billion tons per year, and sand has become the most exploited natural resource after water, which is being exploited illegally and predatory globally.

Sand making from tailings, development of sustainable sand products

Vale’s sustainable sand product is considered a by-product of iron ore. The raw ore in the form of rock mined from nature becomes iron ore after several physical processing procedures such as crushing, screening, grinding and beneficiation in the factory. Vale’s innovation is that the iron ore by-product is reprocessed during the beneficiation stage until it reaches the necessary quality requirements to become a commercial product. In traditional beneficiation processes, these materials are turned into tailings, which are disposed of through the use of dams or by stacking. Now, every ton of sand produced means one ton less tailings.

Sand products from iron ore processing are 100% certified, they are high in silicon and very low in iron, and have high chemical and particle size uniformity. Mr. Jefferson Corraide, executive manager of the Brucutu and Agualimpa integrated operations area, said the sand product was not hazardous. “Our sand products are basically processed by physical methods, and the chemical composition of the material is not changed during the processing, so the product is non-toxic and harmless.”

LDHB tailings sand making equipment includes tailings crusher, vibrating screen, sand making machine, sand washing machine, sewage concentrator, filter press, hydrocyclone.