775 3. CONCLUSIONS The study generated very important knowledge about the occurrence of iron, associated elements, and sediment particle-size distribution within the tailings body deposited in the Gelado tailings dam. Fe occurs at concentrations equal to or greater than 65% in the discharge areas of Arms 1 and 4 over nearly 500 m, in the eastward and northward directions, respectively, and then decreases slightly to 64–65% over approximately 1,500 m. From the discharge points of Arms 2 and 3, Fe occurs at 63–64%, progressing in the direction N70°E for approximately 6,000 m. Toward the end of this trend, Fe grade drops to 62–63%, and locally—at the dam’s northeastern extremes—falls below 62%. SiO₂ occurs at an average grade of 1.97%, inversely to Fe. Using the SiO₂/Fe ratio, it can be seen that in the high-Fe areas it ranges from 1/64 to 1/66, decreasing to 1/22 and finally 1/15. This behavior is related to the density and particle size of Fe, with average values of 2.6 g/cm³ and 0.075 mm, respectively, and of SiO₂, with 2.0 g/cm³ and 10 to 100 nm, respectively. In the research study carried out for the Gelado tailings dam, the measured resources amounted to 227.04 Mt, the indicated resources to 12.46 Mt, and the inferred resources to 26.66 Mt, totaling 266.17 Mt. The potential resource totals 21.25 Mt. This research study constitutes an innovative contribution to the reuse of iron tailings deposited in a dam and, consequently, to important circular economy initiatives and the sustainability of iron mining. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors express their gratitude to Vale S.A. and the Vale Institute of Technology for enabling applied research studies on the reuse of tailings from the Gelado tailings dam. REFERENCES Aquino, E. R., Navarro Torres, V. F., Ferraz, R., Dalmiro, C., Sampaio, A., & Arroyo, C. (2025). Innovative study on the occurrence of iron in the dam of a mine in Brazil: Contributions to the circular economy. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 13, 45–67. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2025.1311004 Ellicott Dredges (2014). Reprocessing of Mining Tailings with Ellicott 370 Dragon® Dredge. https://www.dredge.com/2014/09/reprocessing-of-mining-tailings-with-ellicottdredges/ Ferrante, F. (2014). Estudo de viabilidade para recuperação de minério de ferro em rejeitos contidos em barragens (Master’s thesis). Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. Fitton, T. G., & Neumann, W. J. (2015). Dredging of an active thickened tailings storage facility at the Ernest Henry Mine. In R. Jewell & A. B. Fourie (Eds.), Paste 2015: Proceedings of the 18th International Seminar on Paste and Thickened Tailings (pp. 239–246). Australian Centre for Geomechanics. https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1504_16_Fitton Hall Water & Tailings. (2024). Ranger mine tailings dredging. https://hallwaterandtailings.com.au/project/ranger-mine-tailings-dredging/
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