935 5.5 Advances in Co-Disposal and Hybrid Tailings Systems Innovation is not limited to pure filtered tailings deposition. Several documents describe how technological advances in filtration and blending processes are enabling new hybrid storage solutions, including co-disposal with waste rock. 5.5.1 Laboratory and Pilot-Scale Blend Optimization Previous studies provide detailed insights into how filtered tailings behave when mixed with coarse aggregates. It identifies relationships between: • cake moisture and fragmentation, • blendability and mixing energy, • ratio of tailings to waste rock, and • achievable compaction and stability. Moisture levels near the geotechnical optimum (~16%) enhance blendability and produce strong, stable deposits that meet international standards such as GISTM. 5.5.2 Operationalizing Co-Disposal Technological advances allow co-disposal designs to: • improve structural stability, • reduce oxygen ingress into waste rock (lowering ARD risk), • minimize spreading and compaction effort, and • reduce footprint by integrating waste streams. Advances in filtration are essential to co-disposal because they ensure consistent cake moisture— one of the key technical prerequisites identified in both laboratory and pilot studies. 5.6 Progress in Closure and Rehabilitation Technologies Advances in filtered tailings are closely tied to improvements in closure technologies. The (Vargas & Campomanes Minerals 2022) review notes that filtered dry stacks facilitate progressive rehabilitation, allowing operators to: • cap slopes and terraces progressively during operations, • integrate closure cover placement with routine stacking, • reduce long-term monitoring costs, and • create stable landforms with lower ARD risk. This progressive rehabilitation capability, enabled by filtration and dry stacking technology, directly addresses regulatory expectations for long-term stability and community impact. 5.7 Summary: Innovation is Rapidly Changing the Feasibility Landscape Across the provided documents, a consistent theme emerges: technological advances are steadily eroding the barriers that once limited filtered tailings adoption. These include: • high-throughput filters enabling massive scale, • modular plants reducing CAPEX and schedule risk, • automation stabilizing moisture and performance, • improved materials handling systems, • optimized co-disposal strategies,
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