Use of ground waste glass and normal Portland cement mixtures for improving slurry and paste backfill support performance.

Finely ground waste glass can be utilized as an effective partial pozzolanic replacement for normal Portland cement in various types of mine backfill at potential cost savings of up to 50%. The comparative strength behaviour is summarised of a variety of mine backfill products, from different mine sites, when manufactured in the forms of hydraulic slurry and paste backfill media. For slurry and paste backfill mixtures, up to 35% of the Portland cement binder was replaced by ground waste glass material with excellent strength characteristics being developed. Ground waste glass gave equivalent or better backfill strength characteristics than Portland cement in the long term over cure intervals up to 224 days. Results are presented of parametric studies to explore the sensitivity of ground waste glass pozzolans to variations in mixture moisture content, tailings mineralogy, pozzolan size distribution, cure temperature and glass type.
Finely ground waste glass can be utilized as an effective partial pozzolanic replacement for normal Portland cement in various types of mine backfill at potential cost savings of up to 50%. The comparative strength behaviour is summarised of a variety of mine backfill products, from different mine sites, when manufactured in the forms of hydraulic slurry and paste backfill media. For slurry and paste backfill mixtures, up to 35% of the Portland cement binder was replaced by ground waste glass material with excellent strength characteristics being developed. Ground waste glass gave equivalent or better backfill strength characteristics than Portland cement in the long term over cure intervals up to 224 days. Results are presented of parametric studies to explore the sensitivity of ground waste glass pozzolans to variations in mixture moisture content, tailings mineralogy, pozzolan size distribution, cure temperature and glass type.