## 3 Results and Discussion
### Mineralogical Analysis
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Parameters** & **TSF1** & **TSF2** & **TSF3** \\ \hline D90 (\(\upmu\)m) & 306.24 & 213.57 & 59.49 \\ D60 (\(\upmu\)m) & 56.15 & 49.22 & 27.31 \\ D50 (\(\upmu\)m) & 36.91 & 35.31 & 17.59 \\ D30 (\(\upmu\)m) & 12.54 & 12.52 & 8.08 \\ D10 (\(\upmu\)m) & 2.46 & 2.45 & 1.92 \\ Coefficient of uniformity & 22.79 & 20.02 & 14.19 \\ Coefficient of curvature & 1.24 & 1.29 & 1.14 \\ Passing 80 \(\upmu\)m (\%) & 66.76 & 73.49 & 100 \\ Sand sized \(>\) 63 \(\upmu\)m & 37.71 & 32.24 & 5.72 \\ Silt sized 2–63 \(\upmu\)m & 54.82 & 59.92 & 85.05 \\ Clay sized \(<\) 2 \(\upmu\)m & 7.47 & 7.47 & 9.23 \\ Specific surface area (m\({}^{2}\)/g) & 3 & 3 & 3 \\ Liquid limit wL (\%) & 20.10 & 18.09 & 20.59 \\ Plastic limit wP (\%) & 14.99 & 12.76 & 13.51 \\ Plasticity index PI (\%) & 5.11 & 5.33 & 7.08 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Particle size and geotechnical parameters of the TSF tailings. vonbezingite: Ca\({}_{6}\)Cu\({}_{3}\)(SO\({}_{4}\))\({}_{3}\)(OH)\({}_{12}\):2H\({}_{2}\)O, chalicocyanine: CuSO\({}_{4}\)), arsenate (yukonite: Ca\({}_{2}\)Fe\({}^{3+}\)\({}_{3}\)(AsO\({}_{4}\))\({}_{3}\)(OH)\({}_{4}\)-4H\({}_{2}\)O, tallassite: Ca\({}_{2}\)Mg(AsO\({}_{4}\))\({}_{2}\):2H\({}_{2}\)O,  
irhtemite: Ca\({}_{4}\)Mg(AsO\({}_{4}\))\({}_{2}\)(HAsO\({}_{4}\))\({}_{2}\)-4H\({}_{2}\)O),  
oxyhalides (paratacamite: Cu\({}_{3}\)(Cu\({}_{4}\),Zn)(OH)\({}_{6}\)Cl\({}_{2}\)) and halides (halite: NaCl). Among these minerals which are thought to come from the evaporation of process water and the oxidation of sulfides, the mineralogical study made it possible to distinguish between the TSF tailings releases and the salt precipitates. The presence of magnetite is significant in TSF1 and TSF2, while it is low in TSF3. Sulfide minerals are present in all TSF tailings and salt precipitates with the exception of paraquanajauttite (TSF1, TSF2) and stembergetic (TSF3). Arsenides are also found as lollingite (TSF2, TSF2S), climosafflorite (TSF1, TSF2S, TSF3S), skutterudite (TSF3) and koutekite (TSF2S, TSF3S). Sulfosals are present as tenannatite (TSF2S, TSF3S). Gold-Silver minerals (sylvanite and krennerite) are identified in all samples. Carbonates and silicates are predominantly present in TSF3. Some silicates are not present in all TSF tailings like faijasite in TSF1 and botite, plancheite, stilbite-Ca in TSF2 and TSF1. Only calcite and ompmache are identified in TSF2. Asbestogram amphibodes are present in all samples even though actinolie was found in TSF3. Some secondary minerals, which are not present in the salt precipitates, have been identified in the TSF tailings, such as yukonite and pyrochroite (TSF3), chalicocyanine (TSF2S), and ramsbeckite (TSF1, TSF2). Only caludeleite has been identified in both TSF tailings (TSF2, TSF3) and in salt precipitates. Hydrotalcite, hexahydrite and gypsum are only present in TSF3S. Metallographic observation of the polished sections (Figure 12) refers to the presence of iron sulfide minerals such as chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite (Figure 12C,D,H,N) in all TSF tailings. Pyrrhotite is not identified in the TSF1 and TSF2 tailings, which is a fact that could be ascribed to their advanced oxidation. Only the TSF3 tailings show the presence of pyrrhotite in contact with chalcopyrite (Figure 12M). The authors of [35] showed the relative resistance of sulfide minerals (pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite) and iron oxide (magnetic) in  
Figure 11: X-ray diffractograms of tailings (TSF1, TSF2, TSF3) and salt precipitates (TSF2S, TSF3S).