Mining has been beneficial to our society by providing the metals used in numerous industries. The proper reclamation of sites after the useful life of a mining operation is key to good environmental stewardship and geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) have played an increasingly important role. The use of GCLs can be more cost effective and can reduce the construction time that would normally be required using conventional materials.
CETCO GCLs are a win for your budget and the environment.
Mining has been beneficial to our society by providing the metals used in numerous industries. The proper reclamation of sites after the useful life of a mining operation is key to good environmental stewardship and geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) have played an increasingly important role. The use of GCLs can be more cost effective and can reduce the construction time that would normally be required using conventional materials.
CETCO GCLs are a win for your budget and the environment.
Protecting the environment is a key concern in mining site management. Mine tailings and spoils often contain harmful chemicals and metals that can be carried in run-off or leachate. So they must be properly stored to prevent the risk of environmental contamination.
Containment of potential contaminants, then, is a key challenge for any mining site. Traditionally, compacted clay liners (CCLs) have been used to mitigate contamination risks. But over time, sites around the world have transitioned to GCLs due to their ease of installation, cost effectiveness, overall performance, and resistance to many physical and climatic issues that often occur with CCLs.
Several million square feet of GCLs have been installed in mining applications. A GCL is an engineered hydraulic barrier consisting of high-swelling sodium bentonite clay bonded to a geosynthetic material or encapsulated between layers of geosynthetic materials. The mining industry has been utilizing geosynthetics mainly for containment and reinforcement applications where regulatory or economic factors dictate.
GCLs can extend the construction season beyond that previously attainable with CCLs. A number of studies have revealed that CCLs can undergo increases of several orders of magnitude change in hydraulic conductivity when exposed to freeze-thaw cycling. Upon thawing, CCLs can create cracks whereas GCLs can withstand 20 freeze-thaw cycles with no deterioration in hydraulic conductivity.
Featuring our proprietary, high-density needlepunching construction, CETCO GCLs encapsulate high-quality bentonite or our patented polymer-modified bentonite between geotextiles to produce GCLs with industry-leading shear strength performance to meet the slope stability demands commonly found in mining applications. CETCO GCLs outperform compacted clay liners in both performance and ease-of-installation.
CETCO offers a range of products that conform to industry-recognized standards:
| Bauxite Residual Storage | Evaporation/Retention Basins |
| Leach Pads | Capping |
| Impoundments | Leach Pads |
| Capping |
| Bauxite Residual Storage | Evaporation/Retention Basins |
| Leach Pads | Secondary Containment |
| Capping |
Our experience and application knowledge provide you insight into project design. In addition to offering high quality products, CETCO provides unparalleled technical support. Our multi-disciplinary technical staff are recognized subject matter experts, fluent in our products and technologies with application experience throughout the world. We are here to provide solutions for your project challenges. Contact your local CETCO technical sales manager about any of our environmental products for your next project.
CETCO is the leader and pioneer in cutting-edge environmental solutions. Around the globe for the last half-century, our innovative teams of clay mineralogists, chemists, and polymer scientists transform ordinary minerals into extraordinary technology to solve day-to-day problems worldwide.
