The development and application of a wind erosion model for the assessment of fugitive dust emissions from mine tailings dumps.

The wind erosion of mine tailings is an air pollution concern that has not been investigated thoroughly. Indeed, there is no accurate method to predict fugitive dust emission strength of tailings dumps. This paper reports on the development of a wind erosion model based on the principles of physics. Unlike most wind erosion models developed for agricultural lands or sand dunes, this model takes into account the fluctuations in wind velocity. The model was designed to predict hourly dust emission rate of flat tailings dumps prone to wind erosion for air quality modelling purposes. The model was evaluated using wind tunnel data and field experiments which confirmed the validity of the model for crushed industrial materials. The model was further validated with field experiments undertaken by the authors at the Mantos Blancos mine in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]