Dr Graham Howell et al., SRK Consulting, examine the importance of a comprehensive knowledge base through the tailings storage facility life cycle.
As industry standards for tailings storage facilities (TSFs) become more stringent, compliance is required an ever-wider breadth of scientific and engineering disciplines to be integrated. It is also demanding a thorough philosophical reassessment of design and analysis processes through the TSF life cycle.
The TSF life cycle involves conceptualisation, preliminary and final design, initial starter construction, deposition (construction), continuous monitoring (surveillance), closure, and post-closure. It is a process that could cover many decades and is affected by changing conditions that include metallurgical technology, changes in orebody geology, global environmental trends, and legislative amendments.
Interventions such as the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) emphasise the need for a comprehensive knowledge base for planning and decision-making. Such a base would include a range of fields, from engineering considerations and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, such as climate change, to emergency preparedness and response plans (EPRPs).
Read the digital article online, (pages 61-64)
