Effect of Freeze–Thaw Cycles on Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Tailings Reinforced with Cement-Based Material

In China, more than 10,000 Tailings storage facilities (TSF) have been created on the ground surface through mineral mining processes, these TSF occupy a large amount of land. The strength of the tailings is too low to be able to stand on its own without strengthening. In order to save land resources and alleviate the damage to the environment caused by mineral mining, it is necessary to reinforce the TSF so that they can store more tailings. China is one of the countries with the largest area of permafrost and seasonal frozen regions, accounting for about 75% of the country’s total land area. The problem can be exacerbated in these regions where the freeze–thaw effect can further degrade the strength of tailings. A review of the literature suggests that there is little research on the mechanical and microstructural properties of tailings reinforced with cement-based materials under freeze–thaw conditions, especially when the tailings are to be discharged to land for sustainable development. This study investigates the effect of freeze–thaw cycles on the mechanical properties and microstructural changes of tailings reinforced with cement-based materials to mitigate environmental hazards. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests, scanning electron microscopic images, X-Ray Diffraction tests, thermogravimetry tests and mercury intrusion porosimetry tests were conducted on samples of tailings. The results from this study show that freeze–thaw cycles reduce the UCS of all the tested samples eventually, but the frozen temperature does not significantly affect the UCS. The larger number of freeze–thaw cycles, the more damage is to the surface morphology and the matrix of the tailings. The results presented in the paper can help engineers and managers to effectively transport the TSF to other locations to minimize environmental hazards to achieve sustainable production of mineral mining processes.