mineral resource and an efficient, safe, and sustainable process. Today, with the advent of new technologies, it has become possible to recover tailings from mineral processing and integrate the recovered product into the industrial value chain (Ferrante, 2014). Some tailings dam recovery projects include gold and silver from the Pueblo Viejo tailings facility in the Dominican Republic (Ellicott Dredges, 2014), as well as copper and gold from the Ernest Henry mine tailings facility (Fitton & Neumann, 2015); uranium at the Ranger Mine tailings facility (Hall Water & Tailings, 2024); and coal from the Moura mine tailings facility (Neumann Dredging, 2024) in Australia. As stated by Kefeni et al. (2017), tailings reuse is extremely important because it extends the life cycle of mining by monetizing waste through innovative technologies and contributing to the circular economy. Hunt et al. (2014) indicate that technological innovation is important to integrate mineral production with tailings reuse. As mentioned by Tunsu et al. (2019), it is necessary to assess the geological uncertainties of the deposits. Sarker et al. (2022) indicate that it is necessary to adopt good sampling and chemical analyses to understand the distribution of grades of the main and associated metals and the particle-size fractions in the tailings dam. Aquino et al. (2025) suggest using geostatistical methods for planning mineral extraction. Isaaks & Srivastava (1989) suggest using the Ordinary Kriging method. 2. CASE STUDY THE GELADO TAILING DAM The Gelado Tailings Dam is located within the Serra Norte Complex, in the Serra dos Carajás, in the southeastern region of the state of Pará. The complex is approximately 750 km from Belém, the state capital, and about 30 km from the municipality of Parauapebas, the region’s main urban center. Access to the area is via Highway PA-275, first passing through the gate of the Carajás National Forest and then through the Vale – N5 gate. From that point, travel to the Gelado Tailings Dam takes place via internal roads within the complex, along an approximate route of 21 km. 2.1 Study methodology The study methodology was developed to meet the objective of understanding the occurrence of iron and other associated elements such as SiO₂, P, and others, as well as the particle size distribution of the material deposited in the Gelado tailings dam. It consisted of: geological modeling of the tailings body based on drillhole samples and topographic surfaces, to constrain the base, top, and boundaries of the geological body; data analysis, compositing (regularization), treatment, and statistical validation; spatial continuity analysis through variography, for estimating grades and particle-size ranges using the ordinary kriging method; and finally, resource quantification by analyzing and interpreting the estimated block model. 2.2 General characterization of the Gelado Tailings Dam The dam has a geometry composed of the main body and Arms 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (Figure 2). For this case study, a database consisting of two drilling campaigns carried out in 2001 and 2010 was used, using the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) method. In total, there are records of 306
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