Recycled Mineral Raw Materials from Quarry Waste Using Hydrocyclones

Mining activities in general, and quarrying processes in particular, generate huge amounts of tailings with a considerable presence of fine particles and with a variable composition of minerals, which could limit the direct application of those wastes. Under the paradigm of a circular economy, more effort has to be made to find adequate applications for those secondary raw materials. In this study, a process was proposed and tests were performed to valorise fine particle product as a raw material for the building and construction industry. Samples were taken from wastes in several aggregate production plants, being characterized and processed to remove the clayey components to obtain the cleanest quartz fraction. Then, different characterization and validation tests were carried out to analyse the application of these products as raw materials in the building and construction industry (cement and ceramics). Results showed that with no complex technologies, the tailings can be considered as a mineral raw material in different applications.