Geotechnics for mine waste storage facilities: from fundamental granular mechanics to applied engineering solutions.

We are part of the Research Institute on Mines and the Environment (RIME) UQAT-Polytechnique, a joint research program including six major industrial partners, developing innovative solutions to face environmental challenges in mining. The Institute also trains a large number of graduate students in the field of mining and the environment.

The Lab develops geotechnical and operational criteria to improve the long-term stability of waste rock piles, and mining operations which seek to find value in waste rock.

We work on hydro-geotechnical characterisation of tailings and physical stability of TSF, incluiding new disposal methods.

The Lab works on testing and modeling the behavior of coarse materials, such as crushable aggregates, rockfills, waste rock and gravels.

We focus our analyses on the micro-mechanical sources of the mechanisms governing the response of granular media, using discrete modeling and multiscale analytical methods based on individual rock aggregates characteristics.