Lessons from Tailings Dam Failures—Where to Go from Here?

Abstract

Different regions worldwide have adopted various approaches to tailings management, as a result of the site settings and local practices as they have evolved. Tailings dam failures have continued to occur in both developing and developed countries, necessitating a range of tailings management approaches. These failures, while rare, continue to occur at a frequency that exceeds both industry and society expectations, and there is much to be learned from well-documented cases. Tailings management continues to be overly reliant on a net present value approach using a high discount factor, rather than a whole-of-life approach that may result in safer and more stable tailings facilities and may also facilitate the eventual mine closure. There is a need for the further development and implementation of new tailings management technologies and innovations, and for the application of whole-of-life costing of tailings facilities. Changes in tailings management will most readily be achieved at new mining projects, making change across the minerals industry a generational process.