Question

What is the difference between spoils and tailing?

Answer 1

As nouns the difference between spoils and tailings is that spoils is that which is taken from another by violence; especially, the plunder taken from an enemy; pillage; booty while tailings is the waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; gangue, slimes.

Answer 2

The difference between them, spite of them both are waste, is where they come from. Tailing is the waste that after the extraction of minerals from ore by ore dressing while spoil is from overburden and is rejected as waste.