In 2007, CDA published a set of technical bulletins to supplement Dam Safety Guidelines. The technical bulletins suggest methodologies and procedures for use by qualified professionals as they carry out dam analyses and safety assessments.
Copy of workshop presentation. Ridlen presents the difference between tailings and water dams and the challenges of both. He then presents his client experiences and an example of a client policy and project.
Geoprofessional Business Associations (GBA) Tailings Engineer-of-Record (EOR) Task Force published a Business Brief to inform and educate Member-Firms of the ever-increasing levels of risk associated with tailings dams.
Tailings dam failures have and continue to cause large-scale devastation and environmental impacts. Historically these impacts have largely been predicted using Newtonian hydrodynamic modelling principles resulting in a general overestimation of potential consequences. However, since about 2014 the collective mining industry began developing complex tools to better predict the likely impacts of these failures. The industry has focused on leveraging the latest in computational flow dynamics modelling software and computational hardware to preform non-Newtonian tailings dam break assessments. However, as our tools become more sophisticated so does the requirement on input data. This paper discusses the past modelling approaches and the development of non-Newtonian tailings dam break models. The sensitivity of the flow behaviour is presented through four case studies, showing how this selection influences the outcomes and how previous approaches assuming Newtonian characteristics may present an overly conservative result. It is noted that additional knowledge and expertise will become available as non-Newtonian tailings dam break studies become the norm. In the interim, the uncertainty of these analysis needs to be analysed.
Report and appendices to the report available on the bottom of this web page. Appendices are relatively technical.
The new Technical Bulletin: Application of Dam Safety Guidelines to Mining Dams, complements the Dam Safety Guidelines re-published by CDA in 2013 by providing additional explanation of how the concepts described in the guidelines apply to mining dams. The Bulletin identifies some specific issues that should be considered during the design and safety evaluation of both tailings dams and water retention dams used in the mining industry. Available in hard copy only.
Geo-referenced water dam database, organized by region worldwide. An Excel file contains the database and legend. Notes, References, and a document on the importance of dams is also available.
ASDSO is a national non-profit organization serving state dam safety programs and the broader dam safety community to improve the condition and safety of dams through education and support for state dam safety programs. Largely focused on dams for flood protection, water supply, hydropower, irrigation.
This bulletin describes various methods of tailings transport (slurries vs. dry tailings), tailings placement (cyclone, spigot, paddock, mechanical placement), and decant systems. The bulletin is intended to provide advice for design of these elements based on project-specific characteristics. The bulletin also provides guidance for assessing the water balance of a tailings impoundment.
This bulletin concentrates on the difference of approach (relative to water retention dams) necessary when considering the instrumentation for tailing dams. Sound advice is given about the importance of seepage measurements and the need for automation to provide continuous records, methods for measuring the position of the phreatic surface. The difference of approach between embankment dams and tailings dams is shown.