- Definition
Tailings are the leftover, often toxic, waste materials that remain after valuable resources like minerals or oil have been dug out of the ground.
After gold is removed from rock, the crushed rock and chemical waste left behind are the tailings.
How to teach this in 30 seconds
Try this analogy: Tailings are like the leftover pulp after you squeeze all the juice out of an orange.
Ask your child: After squeezing an orange for juice, what is the stuff left behind?
Common mix-up: Kids might think tailings are just harmless leftover dirt. The key idea is that the chemicals used in mining often make this waste material harmful to the environment.
Examples
- The sand, clay, and water left behind after oil is separated from the oil sands.
- When copper is mined, the leftover ground-up rock that doesn't contain copper becomes tailings.
tailings is a term used in Ontario’s Kindergarten to Grade 8 curriculum.
Where this shows up
The descriptions on this page are SmartStudy’s own original, plain-language writing — not the Ministry’s wording. They are aligned to the Ontario Curriculum, © King’s Printer for Ontario. For the Ministry’s official wording, see the source link below. SmartStudy is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Government of Ontario or the Ministry of Education. Ontario Curriculum and Resources ↗
