Mining waste is one of the largest industrial side streams and the largest waste stream in Finland. Waste management is a key issue in the environmental safety, social acceptability, and economic viability of mines. Mining waste has significant circular economy potential, and other circular economy materials can also be used in their management. The SMARTTEST project develops an intelligent field-testing facility and concept, with which circular economy and extractive waste management solutions can be investigated in long-term field tests already during the mineral process development phase of a mine. Mining waste management solutions must always be tailored according to the properties of the waste, and long-term behavior testing should start as early as possible to ensure the functionality of the selected solutions and environmental protection structures. Waste management also aims to utilize circular economy materials to minimize the use of virgin natural resources. This requires large-scale testing. The introduction of modern management techniques, such as paste, dry and mixed disposal in Nordic climate, also requires testing, as does the use of circular economy materials in, for example, earth construction. The use of dewatered deposition techniques contributes to the recycling of mine process waters. The SMARTTEST project develops a flexibly customizable and comprehensively instrumented field-testing concept for side streams and mining waste. The concept can be used to determine the behavior of mining waste, their management solutions and circular economy materials in Nordic weather conditions. Field tests will be carried out to pilot the field test concept and its performance during the project with different case examples of waste management solutions. During the project, 2–3 large-scale tests and 8–9 small-scale tests with a 2-year duration will be carried out. Modeling is used in the planning of tests and in the interpretation and scaling up of their results, and a modelling service package will be created. The project promotes circular economy and extractive waste management and expands the cooperation opportunities and development activities offered by GTK Mintec.
