ARTÍCULO
TITULO

The usage of originating debris of copper leaching processes in cement concretes

Luís Aguilar    
Walter Roldán    
Vicente Zetola    
Carlos Urrutia    

Resumen

The Mining of copper generates great amounts of debris which come from the process of leaching by Sulfuric acid, which are discarded and then accumulated.In the process of finding alternative methods, the present research pretends to find the positive and negative effects of using this type of concrete, giventhe fact that these accumulate an appreciable amount of copper sulphate and some other impurities, which tend to reject their utilization. Because of thegreat amount of fines, sulphates and chlorides it was necessary to wash out the material before it was used. Concretes were made, each an every one hada different water/concrete (w/c) relationship, maintaining the consistency and the relationship burdens-sand constant, also varying the type of cement andcomparing results with a pattern concrete elaborated with barren normal thickness. The results show us that the washing out of the materials only has agreat efficiency in the elimination of fines, but not in the elimination of chlorides and sulphates. The test concretes made of leaching debris had a slightlygreater resistance the first days and show a tendency that would indicate a lost one of resistance with the age. The survey concluded that this material canbe used for secondary concrete structures, which would be useful for a short time in dry surroundings.

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