Soil is a vital resource which is limited in availability and must be adequately managed for sustainable development. Despite the importance of soil and its limited availability, a huge amount of soil is classified as waste. As one of the world’s largest soil waste generators, the mining industry must transition to a circular economy model to meet sustainability requirements. As a readily available, large-volume waste material (about 10 million tonnes each year), waste mica has been considered for re-use as an alternative soil potassium source for plants, as landscaping material etc. One of the problems with mica waste is its susceptibility to erosion. To use mica as an agricultural or landscaping material, it is therefore important to understand the erodibility of mica and how its erodibility can be reduced. This study presents an experimental campaign to characterize mica erosion susceptibility. Mica particle-to-particle interaction forces and their effect on the macroscopic material behaviour were systematically investigated by changing pore fluid pH and ionic concentration. Sedimentation and liquid limit tests were first carried out to inform a conceptual model of the mica fabric. Triplets of 12 mica samples, compacted at different water contents and with different pore chemistry, were tested for erosion susceptibility using a Jet Erosion Test (JET) apparatus. The particle configuration of mica samples consistently varied with the pore water chemistry, regardless of whether the samples being tested were suspension sediments or compacted samples. For mica samples formed with neutral water at low ionic concentration, the particles are in a dispersed configuration. This implies a poor mechanical behaviour and high erosion susceptibility, as particles are eroded one by one. For porewater samples formed with an increased ionic strength or within the acidic pH range, particles tend to cluster together and organize in a non-dispersed configuration. This results in an improved mechanical behaviour and less erosion susceptibility, as group of particles must be eroded as opposed to individual ones. Similarly, the Jet erosion test results reinforced these observations showing that mica erodibility varies with porewater chemistry. Considering that mica erodibility varies with pore fluid chemistry and mica waste derived from mining operations are often slightly acidic, this paper paves the way for tailored assessments of individual mica waste materials to determine the appropriateness of their use.

土壤是一种重要资源，其可用性有限，必须对可持续发展进行充分管理。尽管土壤很重要且其可用性有限，但仍有大量土壤被归类为废物。作为世界上最大的土壤废物产生者之一，采矿业必须过渡到循环经济模式才能满足可持续性要求。作为一种容易获得的大容量废料（每年约 1000 万吨），废云母已被考虑再利用作为植物的替代土壤钾源、景观材料等。 云母废料的问题之一是它对侵蚀的敏感性。要将云母用作农业或景观材料，了解云母的可蚀性以及如何降低其可蚀性非常重要。这项研究提出了一项实验活动，以表征云母侵蚀敏感性。通过改变孔隙流体 pH 值和离子浓度，系统地研究了云母颗粒间相互作用力及其对宏观材料行为的影响。首先进行沉降和液限测试，以形成云母织物的概念模型。使用喷射侵蚀测试 (JET) 设备测试以不同含水量和不同孔隙化学压实的 12 个云母样品的三元组的侵蚀敏感性。无论被测样品是悬浮沉积物还是压实样品，云母样品的颗粒构型始终随孔隙水化学变化。对于用低离子浓度的中性水形成的云母样品，颗粒呈分散结构。这意味着较差的机械性能和高侵蚀敏感性，因为颗粒被一个一个侵蚀。对于以增加的离子强度或在酸性 pH 范围内形成的孔隙水样品，颗粒倾向于聚集在一起并以非分散配置组织。这导致改进的机械性能和更少的侵蚀敏感性，因为必须侵蚀一组颗粒而不是单个颗粒。类似地，喷射侵蚀测试结果加强了这些观察结果，表明云母的可蚀性随孔隙水化学性质而变化。考虑到云母的可蚀性随孔隙流体化学性质的不同而不同，而且采矿作业产生的云母废料通常呈微酸性，