Albemarle Looks to Make Most of Mine Tailings 

Dec. 10, 2024

Albemarle’s commitment to responsible mining extends beyond extracting valuable minerals from rock. We take particular care with mine tailings, the material left over after sought-after minerals – in our case, lithium – are separated from rock or soil.  

In the mining industry, it is common that non-ore bearing material like tailings must be stored due to the large volumes generated.  

Albemarle’s approach expands the vision for these materials, storing them safely and responsibly, but also exploring whether they can be repurposed as a material for a different industry.  

“Finding sustainable outlets for our co-products is not only beneficial to Albemarle but also our partners and communities,” says Christine Stroh, Albemarle’s global business Manager. “We want to enable a circular economy for tailings through innovative and creative upcycling.” 

These materials include processed rock and minerals that are typically sand- to clay-like in particle size. They may have a variety of uses in the construction industry. 

We align our tailings management with industry best practices at our sites globally.  

We also focus on reducing impurities in the tailings so they can be more sustainably sold into viable markets or reused as part of our own internal processes. 

In brine-based lithium mining, tailings (better known as co-products) are usually salts. In Albemarle’s Chilean sites, the team works diligently to upcycle the different salts into commodity raw materials in the fertilizer, mining, and construction industries. 

At the site of Albemarle’s proposed Kings Mountain Mine, Albemarle plans to partner with Martin Marietta to repurpose a portion of development rock into construction aggregate.  

This arrangement is intended to contribute to a more sustainable management of resources and a portion of the sales are planned to be used to support the City of Kings Mountain and the surrounding communities.  

Albemarle has made a plan for storing any tailings that are not re-purposed.  

Through innovative solutions such as “dry stacking,” the project plans to adopt industry-leading practices that can reduce water usage and limit environmental impact on local communities. 

Most mines mix tailings with water to form a slurry, which is then pumped to the tailings storage facility (TSF). This results in significant water usage, water ponds on top of the TSF, and increased seepage of water through the facility, which can potentially compromise its stability and impact the environment. 

Alternatively, Albemarle has chosen to design what is known as a dry stack facility, where the tailings pass through a filtration process designed to remove most of the water within the material until it resembles moist beach sand.  

This material would be stored at a facility located about three miles from the mine in a structured embankment.  

Much of the site for the storage facility was previously used for mica mining activities. Albemarle plans to monitor the storage facility regularly with drones, surveys and through periodic inspections by independent engineers.  

“Tailings management is a priority,” according to Keith Viles, senior manager of geotechnical governance at Albemarle. “Part of that is ensuring that what we leave behind is safe and won’t be a problem for anyone that comes after us. We want to be good neighbors.”