What Could Tailings Facility Engineering Look Like in 2030?

December 16, 2024

Over the past five to ten years, there has been a surge in many different aspects of tailings facility engineering as the mining industry pays more attention to the importance of their tailings facilities as part of the overall success of their mining operations. This has been partly related to the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) that was released in 2020, but is also due to other initiatives by several mining companies and organizations around the world that are committed to safe tailings facilities. There are major initiatives occurring on many fronts, including:

  • Tailings technology and deposition strategies.
  • Characterization of tailings and foundation soils, slope stability assessment (including deformation analyses), liquefaction predictions, dealing with high stresses, closure, filtered tailings, and so on.
  • Closure strategies.
  • Surveillance techniques.
  • Competency building.
  • Guidance documents that bolster the capabilities of the engineers working on tailings facilities.

    This paper presents a summary of key issues that are currently confronting tailings facility engineers, owners, and regulators for each of the above topics. It describes initiatives that are currently underway or issues for which there are plans to address, and provides a vision for 2030. A survey of leaders in tailings facility engineering was conducted and the results of the survey are summarized in the paper.

    Small, A., A. Witte and A. Bjelkevik. 2024. “What Could Tailings Facility Engineering Look Like in 2030?” in Proceedings of the Tailings and Mine Waste Conference, 10-13 November 2024. Colorado, USA.