Innovations applied in tailing dams

Brazil lived in less than five years, two huge accidents with mining tailings dams in the cities of Mariana and Brumadinho – Minas Gerais State. Brumadinho's accident is considered the biggest world disaster with dams in the last 35 years, and has entered the statistics as the biggest work accident in Brazilian history. The scenario of these tragedies begins with the negligence of companies with the treatment and disposal of waste. They invest in technologies for the processing of ore and put aside the tailings. The amount of tailings generated in the mineral processing is high, often equal to or greater than the amount of raw ore produced. The work had as objective to make a search in two bases of patents on innovation or application of new technologies in tailings dams, or new technologies for the replacement of dams. The results of the research showed that worldwide efforts have been made in the following research fronts: use of the tailings as a raw material for the creation of other products, increase in the drying capacity of the tailings for subsequent deposit in the dams (dry stacking), modern techniques of inspection of structures and the accumulation of tailings in the deposits.