Activating the hidden potential of mine tailings: a mineral-based mechanical activation framework

Mine tailings, produced at rates exceeding 10 billion tonnes annually, constitute the world’s largest industrial waste stream. Catastrophic failures have caused loss of life, contamination, and long-term ecological harm, underscoring the need for sustainable and systematic management strategies. Yet they also represent an untapped resource for sustainable construction. Unlocking this potential requires activation techniques capable of generating reactive phases, as well as decision frameworks that can guide their responsible deployment. Therefore, this study introduces a mineral-based mechanical activation framework that supports informed evaluation of the activation behaviour and valorisation potential of mine tailings. The framework classifies minerals by their potential cementitious contribution following mechanical activation and their susceptibility to amorphisation, based on intrinsic mineralogical attributes. Case studies on multi-mineral mine tailings demonstrate broad consistency with the proposed framework: silica–alumina contributor group–dominated tailings tend to enhance pozzolanic reactivity, oxide contributor group–dominated tailings generally show limited response, and unsuitable mineral group–dominated tailings largely remain inert under mechanical activation. The framework provides a basis for mechanical activation as a systematic, design-informed decision strategy rather than an ad hoc empirical practice, grounded in the mineralogical fingerprint of mine tailings. Its mineralogical basis also offers a transferable conceptual basis for evaluating other industrial residues, providing a generic template for resource-efficient valorisation. The framework supports a shift in tailings utilisation away from a linear take–make–dispose paradigm toward more knowledge-driven evaluation and utilisation strategies, enabling more systematic assessment across waste streams and alignment with circular-economy and net-zero targets. Illustratively, enabling a ∼ 15% substitution across 1 million tonnes of cement would valorise ∼ 0.15 Mt of residues and avoid ∼ 0.09–0.12 Mt CO2.