Question, page-2

what a good question the answer depends on your ore and your extraction technique .first the ore comes out at an s.g . of about 3 and is put in a pile whose s.g. may be 1 to 1.5 thus the volume increase. secondly if you use a H2SO4 extraction techinique then you get water crystallization added on as well. in the case of sodium it could be ten water while in the case of aluminium in could be eighteen i.e. Al2(SO4)3.18H20 or from every 54 gms of ore your would have 666 gms of waste at a much lower s.g. thus to answer your question each waste element will contain a different amount of water crystallization .unless you dry it but then that depends on temperature of drying if 200 degrees then you just get the sulphate if 800 degrees you get the oxide. sorry it not simple but basics of waste storage. if you want to see how much waste a rare earth mine REE can produce catch a glimpse of the Chinese one that's 10 km across.