As the global mining industry works towards meeting stringent new tailings dam standards, a recent presentation to SAICE's Environmental Engineering Division (SEED) highlighted some of the less predictable factors in planning these engineered landforms for the long term.
In a recent presentation to SEED, SRK Consulting Associate Partner and Principal Civil Engineer Justin Walls noted there are several unknown factors to be considered in the planning and designing of tailings storage facilities (TSFs). In the latest benchmark for TSFs – the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management (GISTM) – it is clear that mines should assume that their TSFs will be permanent landforms.
“Importantly, the GISTM requires that factors like climate change be considered in the design. While there is an emerging consensus on what this means for the
next 80 to 100 years, there is still considerable divergence in what current models
tell us what may happen to the climate after that,” Walls noted.
