Technical Talk
Limitations and Possible Improvement of Dam Breach Studies
Wednesday, November 08, 2023, 01:30 PM - 01:50 PM PST
Tailings dam breach models are commonly used for both dam classification and emergency response planning. This presentation summarizes the limitations observed in a review of 18 dam breach studies from 23 high or extreme risk tailings facilities. The review included studies by 5 consulting companies, from sites on 3 continents with widely different climate and topography, and models spanning the range of behaviors from thin slurry flows to non-Newtonian “mud-flows” to frictional flow “runouts”.
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Deconstruction of an Upstream Raised Tailings Storage Facility: Project Design and Execution
Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 11:50 AM - 12:10 PM PST
This presentation explains a project in Mexico where they took down a Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) and moved about 145,000 cubic meters of materials. A "digital twin" was used for planning and employed standard equipment to move the materials, and had to adapt as they encountered various challenges during the deconstruction.
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From Design to Construction. The Role of the EoR in the Construction of a Filtered TSF Located in a Remote Area
Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
This paper presents the experience of SRK Consulting with the Salares Norte project owned by Gold Fields. Salares Norte is a greenfield gold-silver project located in the Atacama Region of Chile, a high mountainous environment (over 4,000 m a.s.l.) with extremely arid conditions and high seismicity.
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Operational Control and Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP) for a Tailings Storage Facility (TSF)
November 05 - 08, 2023, 08:30 AM - 06:00 PM
This document presents a brief introduction of TARP methodology, and the recommended operating parameters for a tailings storage facility (TSF) that was built in the 1980s and recently reinforced with a buttress. The TSF is instrumented with 13 piezometers in 12 locations and 13 survey monuments with one control point. The recommended operating parameters ware based on historical data, current instrumentation readings, and model analysis.
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Design and Development of a Dam Breach Detection System
November 05 - 08, 2023
The project developed an autonomous dam breach alarm system using buried electrical wires, successfully installed in high-risk dams, emphasizing the value of collaboration between dam owners and geotechnical engineers.
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Coupling Tailings Deposition Modelling With Hydrus-1D and Python for Pseudo-3D Seepage Predictions
November 05 - 08, 2023
Analysis of the usefulness of software such as Hydrus-1D, Autodesk® Dynamo® and Python to model how water moves through different mine waste facilities, helping with design and environmental predictions.
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Evolution of the Geotechnical and Phreatic Conditions in Tailings of an Upstream-Raised Dam
November 05 - 08, 2023
Two site investigations at Mexico's Velardeña mine in 2020 and 2022 aimed to assess tailings for upstream raise designs. The 2022 investigation revealed improved geotechnical conditions and indicated a drier environment in the tailings storage facilities.
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Deformation Modeling of an Upstream Raised Tailings Dam
November 05 - 08, 2023
This presentation highlights the capacity of the stress-deformation analyses in explaining the performance of the tailings dams during operation and raise but also to provide understanding of events involving multiple elements and complex interactions. The findings of this study are discussed from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives.
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Short Course
Risk Assessment – Part 3
Sunday, November 05, 2023, 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST
Analyze a case study as an example to illustrate key points of the risk assessment process. Note that because of the limited time, we will not be diving into how to estimate the likelihood of consequences but instead draw on the case study to show different approaches that can be used to frame and present the risks and then use the results of a risk assessment to inform decisions.
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Filtered Tailings Management – Planning, Design, Construction, and Operation
Saturday, November 04, 2023, 08:00 AM - 05:00 PM PST
With a focus on the practical application of filtered tailings management, this short course will cover facility design, and operations. Current standard-of-practices in planning, design, fundamental geotechnics, construction concepts and approaches, and operations of filtered tailings storage facilities will be presented.
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