Iron ore tailings (IOT) from tailings dams cause significant environmental, economic, and social impacts, which has motivated the search for reuse alternatives. In this scenario, the present work uses reverse logistics to size the resources required to reuse the IOT for road infrastructure. A reverse logistics system was modelled to transport the IOT from the tailings dam to a processing plant and then to the construction site of a road. Resource capacity constraints and operational limitations were considered, and the economic feasibility of the system was analysed. Two scenarios for tailings transportation on the dam/plant route were simulated aiming at a cost less than R$ 25 (US$ 6.13) per tonne: (1) trucks; and (2) conveyor belts. The economic feasibility of both scenarios was proven, with scenario 1 presenting the most promising results – a transport distance of 290 km within the established price limit. This methodology can thus be applied to encourage the large-scale reuse of IOT.

尾矿坝产生的铁矿石尾矿（IOT）会对环境，经济和社会产生重大影响，这促使人们寻找可重复使用的替代品。在这种情况下，本工作使用反向物流来确定将IOT重新用于道路基础设施所需的资源。建立了反向物流系统模型，将物联网从尾矿坝运输到加工厂，然后再运输到道路的施工现场。考虑了资源容量限制和操作限制，并对系统的经济可行性进行了分析。模拟了两种在大坝/工厂路线上进行尾矿运输的方案，目标是每吨成本低于25雷亚尔（6.13美元）：（1）卡车；（2）传送带。两种情况的经济可行性都得到了证明，方案1展示了最有希望的结果-在既定价格限制内的运输距离为290公里。因此，可以将该方法应用于鼓励物联网的大规模重用。