1
24-028
Dewatering over 8,000 tpd of Copper Tailings at a Mine site in
Peru with the Largest Filter Press in the World: Case Study and
“Lessons Learned”
Kevin Schraden
Diemme Filtration, Philadelphia, USA
Andrea Pezzi
Diemme Filtration, Lugo, Italy
MANUSCRIPT
The mining industry is being challenged to adapt to the
environmental and social/political changes the world is
currently experiencing. Three of major challenges facing
the mining industry today are: water scarcity, unpredict-
able weather conditions that generate a risk of tailings dam
failures as well as the correlating social pressure and govern-
ment regulations that prevent the development of new or
expanded tailings dam projects.
It is estimated the total number of active, inactive and
closed storage facilities globally is over 8,500 containing
over 217 km3 of tailings (46% are from copper mining)1
which at some point will need to be addressed.
Technologically, there are several solutions for tailings
management, including conventional ponds, thickened
tails, paste backfill and filtered dry stack tailings.
The use of pressure filters, for tailings dewatering is
currently being evaluated and often selected as the preferred
technology where dry stacking is the chosen solution for
residue disposal. This is mainly due to the pressure filters
ability and flexibility to address and achieve the current
challenging aspects of tailings processing including:
• Extremely high capacities of 80,000 dry tons/day
• Lower ore grades which require finer grinding and
result in a higher amount fine fractions and clay
content
• Residual moisture targets required for the geotechni-
cal specifications for dry stacking
Over the last ten (10) years pressure filters have evolved to
significantly increase the capacity while maintaining safety
and optimizing efficiency, availability and lowering opex
through plate/cloth design and development of new sys-
tems for real time KPI monitoring and continuous process
tuning.
A good example of this is the Diemme GHT5000.
F30 DOMINO pressure filter which Diemme Filtration
developed In close cooperation with mining industry part-
ners to address the challenges identified above specifically
for large scale mining tailings operations. The DOMINO
is currently the largest filter press in the world, utilizing
5,000 mm × 5,000 mm filter plates providing a volume of
71 m3 and 2850 m2 of filtration area with a single unit able
to process 8,000–10,000 tons dry solids/day of copper tail-
ings. The DOMINO is currently 2–3 times larger than any
other filter press on the market today.
In cooperation and partnership with Southern Peru
Copper Corporation (SPCC), a Groupo Mexico company,
the first DOMINO has been operating since December
2022 at the Toquepala copper mine in Peru as a pilot
installation. SPCC’s Toquepala mine location, the need to
address their high tailings generation and storage and severe
water challenges were driving factors in moving forward
24-028
Dewatering over 8,000 tpd of Copper Tailings at a Mine site in
Peru with the Largest Filter Press in the World: Case Study and
“Lessons Learned”
Kevin Schraden
Diemme Filtration, Philadelphia, USA
Andrea Pezzi
Diemme Filtration, Lugo, Italy
MANUSCRIPT
The mining industry is being challenged to adapt to the
environmental and social/political changes the world is
currently experiencing. Three of major challenges facing
the mining industry today are: water scarcity, unpredict-
able weather conditions that generate a risk of tailings dam
failures as well as the correlating social pressure and govern-
ment regulations that prevent the development of new or
expanded tailings dam projects.
It is estimated the total number of active, inactive and
closed storage facilities globally is over 8,500 containing
over 217 km3 of tailings (46% are from copper mining)1
which at some point will need to be addressed.
Technologically, there are several solutions for tailings
management, including conventional ponds, thickened
tails, paste backfill and filtered dry stack tailings.
The use of pressure filters, for tailings dewatering is
currently being evaluated and often selected as the preferred
technology where dry stacking is the chosen solution for
residue disposal. This is mainly due to the pressure filters
ability and flexibility to address and achieve the current
challenging aspects of tailings processing including:
• Extremely high capacities of 80,000 dry tons/day
• Lower ore grades which require finer grinding and
result in a higher amount fine fractions and clay
content
• Residual moisture targets required for the geotechni-
cal specifications for dry stacking
Over the last ten (10) years pressure filters have evolved to
significantly increase the capacity while maintaining safety
and optimizing efficiency, availability and lowering opex
through plate/cloth design and development of new sys-
tems for real time KPI monitoring and continuous process
tuning.
A good example of this is the Diemme GHT5000.
F30 DOMINO pressure filter which Diemme Filtration
developed In close cooperation with mining industry part-
ners to address the challenges identified above specifically
for large scale mining tailings operations. The DOMINO
is currently the largest filter press in the world, utilizing
5,000 mm × 5,000 mm filter plates providing a volume of
71 m3 and 2850 m2 of filtration area with a single unit able
to process 8,000–10,000 tons dry solids/day of copper tail-
ings. The DOMINO is currently 2–3 times larger than any
other filter press on the market today.
In cooperation and partnership with Southern Peru
Copper Corporation (SPCC), a Groupo Mexico company,
the first DOMINO has been operating since December
2022 at the Toquepala copper mine in Peru as a pilot
installation. SPCC’s Toquepala mine location, the need to
address their high tailings generation and storage and severe
water challenges were driving factors in moving forward