Cayeli Paste Backfill System and Operations

This chapter presents an overview of the Cayeli paste backfill system and operations. Cemented paste backfill (CPB) has been in use at the mine since 1999 and is a critical component of the underground mining operations. Since start up, more than 3.5 million m3 of CPB has been successfully placed into the mined-out underground stopes. Cemented stope pillars have proven to be stable and allow 100% extraction of secondary stopes. Cayeli has well established procedures, a good quality assurance/ quality control program, efficient plant maintenance, and ongoing continuous improvement program to better assess methods of improving the performance and reducing the CPB costs. All aspects including mining methods, paste fill plant, reticulation system, and backfill strategy and applications are given in this chapter.