Conversion of mine waste materials into supplementary cementitious materials

A process for producing a supplementary cementitious material from a mine waste material, said process comprising:

• (a) obtaining a mine waste material containing a pozzolanic component, a pre-pozzolanic component, or a combination thereof;
• (b) crushing said mine waste material to reduce the particle size, thereby generating a crushed mine waste material with an average particle size selected from about 0.1 millimeters to about 50 millimeters;
• (c) optionally, calcining or sintering said crushed mine waste material at a first calcining or sintering temperature selected from about 600° C. to about 1600° C. and a first calcining or sintering time selected from about 1 second to about 10 hours;
• (d) milling said crushed mine waste material or a calcined or sintered form thereof, to further reduce particle size, thereby generating a milled mine waste material with a median particle size (D50) selected from about 1 micron to about 50 microns;
• (e) optionally, calcining or sintering said milled mine waste material at a second calcining or sintering temperature selected from about 600° C. to about 1600° C. and a second calcining or sintering time selected from about 1 second to about 10 hours;
• (f) optionally, introducing a separate pozzolan to said mine waste material, said crushed mine waste material or a calcined or sintered form thereof, said milled mine waste material or a calcined or sintered form thereof, or a combination thereof;
• and
• (g) recovering said milled mine waste material or a calcined or sintered form thereof as a supplementary cementitious material, wherein said supplementary cementitious material contains said separate pozzolan if step (f) is conducted.