Abstract
Submarine tailings disposal (STD) systems have been retrofitted, designed, or appear to be possible at several existing or abandoned coastal and island mines. At Atlas Copper Mine, the Philippines, the system is somewhat different from the norm: a 500‐m pipe pier, with a discharge point just below the surface, extends offshore to 30‐m water depth. Little environmental information is in the public domain, but there appears to be some nearshore turbidity and deposition. A system was designed for the Toquepala and Cuajone mines, Peru, but was not implemented. The discharge depth was to have been at 20 m to a sloping offshore bank, with low‐oxygen water and sediments. The Marcopper Mine, the Philippines, elected for nearshore disposal, but extended this by causeway to surface discharge over deeper water. Reviews of potential STD sites showed at least three locations with apparently suitable depth and slope close to shore. At Bougainville Copper Mine, Papua New Guinea, the tailings disposal option was to a riv...
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