*Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Faculty of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
**Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, S. J. M. Institute of Technology, Chitradurga, Karnataka, India
Online published on 7 June, 2014.
Industrialization extremely demands to the uplift of nation's economy. However, it causes severe environmental pollution due to the generated waste materials. Copper ore tailings, is a waste material obtained in the copper mines, after the extraction of copper concentrate from the ore. Some trace percentage of copper will be left in the ore after the extraction process is completed. This copper ore tailing is produced in large quantity in the copper mines. Disposing of this copper ore tailing from the mines premises is a big head ache for the concerned authorities. In this experimental work an attempt has been made to study the suitability of copper ore tailings as an admixture in the preparation of concrete by replacing the cement in different percentages viz., 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. Compressive strength and Water absorption test were conducted on the prepared specimens. The results show that the replacements of ordinary Portland cement by copper ore tailings safe up to 20% considering average minimum field strength. If characteristic strength is considered replacement copper ore tailings upto 30% may be considered as safe and the water absorption decreases at 20% copper ore tailings content and increases for all other copper ore tailings content.
Copper tailings, Compressive strength, Water absorption
