The objective of this study is to present a tailings recovery project in a dam located in northern Brazil; the tailings in this dam have high concentrations of iron. The sustainable recovery of mineral resources can be achieved using the dredging method. The methodology used was based on two drilling projects conducted in 2001 and 2010; these projects contained samples with information on the chemical composition and particle size fractions. The dredging system was designed to operate with four cutter suction dredgers. For operation, factors such as productivity, pumping distance and material flow were considered. The material contained in the dam was estimated using the natural neighborhood interpolation method; this resulted in approximately 192 million tons of tailings, with an average iron content of 63.37%. Based on these data, a 13-year mining plan was prepared, with the potential to maximize the use of the tailings and reduce the environmental impacts, thus contributing to a circular economy.
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