Assessing the safety and security of operational TSFs has been a significant proportion of the SRK UK Mine Waste Engineering team’s workload since catastrophic failures at Brumadinho and Mariana, Brazil, and Mount Polley, Canada. Investigations are undertaken in general accordance with the approach for dam safety and operational reviews (DSORs) as recommended by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) and the Canadian Dam Association (CDA).
The minimum scope of a DSOR should aim to understand the key risks that affect the TSF; It should include the identification of potential shortcomings of the design and operation, with a focus on stability, security and/or safety of the TSF.
SRK recently completed a DSOR audit of two TSFs at the Sukari gold mine in southern Egypt, which is owned by Centamin Plc.
The work followed a standard approach which includes:
1. Issue an information request.
2. Collate available data and identify any data gaps
3. Undertake a 4-day site inspection.
4. Hold discussions with the engineer of record (EOR) and the responsible tailings facility engineer (RTFE)
5. Present preliminary findings and major issues.
6. Issue a DSOR audit report
7. Present findings and recommendations to Centamin’s Sustainability Committee
The outcomes of the DSOR audit were positive. The report lists a significant number of positive observations and recent improvements that have been completed since Centamin acquired the project. In reviewed condition, SRK considered both the historical TSF and the recently constructed operational TSF to be safe. This opinion was supported by evidence from site observations and review of the performance
monitoring data. Recommendations were separated into those for improvement of safety (mainly related to return water management) and those for improvement in management practices and documentation (mainly related to following consistent
monitoring procedures and to updating documentation).
The conclusions and recommendations of the DSOR audit have been accepted and endorsed by the EOR and the RTFE. They have been used to develop a technical action plan which will guide further improvement in safety and performance.
