In order to protect the environment and safety of the communities living near mine sites, we have received funding from industry partners to develop a meaningful monitoring programme for preventing the failure of tailings storage facilities (TSFs). The project is part of the AMIRA Global’s Future Tailings program and benefits from the technological and financial support of a number of major, minor
We are evaluating a range of monitoring technologies and their suitability for application to providing advance warning of potential TSFs instabilities. The outcomes of this project provide meaningful insight into appropriately selected instrumentation that measure meaningful parameters. These measurements will act as trigger warnings for detecting the potential onset of failures that may be prevented.
Given that the recently launched Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, under the guidance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), listed tailings monitoring as one of its six core topics, our project outcomes are expected to have wide-ranging impacts and benefits across the industry internationally.