While not specific to tailings, this webinar includes valuable knowledge for tailings engineers. Natural disasters in 2011 alone resulted in $366 billion (2011 US$) in direct damages and 29,782 fatalities worldwide. Storms and floods accounted for up to 70% of the 302 natural disasters worldwide, with earthquakes producing the greatest number of fatalities. Trends show an increase in these losses, attributable in part to a changing climate. Managing these risks rationally requires appropriate definitions of risks and resilience and associated metrics, and the using appropriate decision criteria. This webinar provides such definitions. It discusses climate resilience with a special focus on extreme precipitation for non-stationary processes.
?Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), an iron ore company with mines in northern Sweden is continuously considering new technologies for handling, transportation and disposal of waste rock and tailings. The mines and concentration facilities are located north of the Arctic Circle which in Scandinavia means an average temperature of about 0° C. Snow from mid-October to mid-May. In winter the temperature may reach -35 to -40° C during weeklong cold spells. At the Svappavaara mine early technical-economical feasibility considerations together with expected space limitations in the concentrator area favored location of two thickened tailings thickeners on a hill close to the disposal area about 1600 m away from the concentrating plant. In this way only short distance pumping of thickened slurry is required and warm process water is recovered directly by gravity from the thickener to the concentrating plant. A thickener of a high-density type with 18 m diameter was first installed. Four years later an additional thickener of paste type with diameter 24 m was put into operation. The design (maximum) capacities were 115 and 275 tph (tons per hour) for the 18 m and 24 m thickeners, respectively, with solids flux rates of 0.45 and 0.6 ton/m2h. Both are planned for common use for 390 tph within a few years. The tailings product is characterized by an average particle size of about 30 µm with a maximum of about 500 µm and about 40 % passing 20 µm. Solids density about 3000 kg/m3. A solids concentration by mass of 70 % was considered sufficient for deposition at a slope of up to 3 %. The objective is to present and discuss the performance of the thickening, transportation and deposition systems during the commission stages and first years of operation. The aim is also to describe how initial conditions related to changes in the tailings production rate together with climatic conditions called for robust by-pass arrangements. Furthermore, complicating factors related to the choice of auxiliary equipment and instrumentation for central functions are discussed.
?Chile is a country with high vulnerability associated with Climate Change, given among other factors, due to the need for development and growing social and environmental conflicts. This motivates the implementation of adaptation, transformation and mitigation measures at all aspects, to deal with climatological phenomena, which despite its future uncertainty, its development is a proven fact by robust and bulky scientific evidence. Motivated by the call from COP25 and the IPCC to assess adaptation and mitigation of effects and consequences of Climate Change, SRK Chile proposed to analyze the response of infrastructure associated with mining in northern Chile, considering General Circulation Models (GCM) downscaled for Atacama region at different elevations, based on the models considered by Chilean Water Directorate (DGA) in its Update of the National Water Balance of Chile (NWBC). This study considers Representative Concentration Pathways RCP 8.5 (most pessimistic scenario) as scenarios to evaluate, same as DGA NWBC. To observe the effects of these scenarios we applied the GCM as boundary conditions in 1D numerical infiltration models using the software Hydrus. In the simulations water fluxes in a column of thickened tailing above natural soil is analyzed for different precipitation regimes from GCMs. Standard values according to our experience for the hydraulic and geometry properties of the materials forming the columns are used. The results of this study shed light upon the future precipitations scenarios affect the available water in the infrastructures at different elevations, providing a quantitative comparison of the infiltration fluxes within the tailing for the GCMs in the Atacama region.
While not specific to tailings, this webinar includes valuable knowledge for tailings engineers. This webinar discusses ways that climate change, especially sea level rise, can and should be included in flood designs. There are currently no prescribed methods for how to consider future conditions in flood design. This webinar uses ASCE 7 Flood Loads and ASCE 24 Flood Resistant Design and Construction Standard as the design basis in which to include future conditions. It discusses flood depths, future wave conditions, and long-term erosion in the context of increasing flood loads for these future conditions. It also discusses the issue of uncertainty in the magnitude of these future loads so the practitioner has a methodology that can consider these uncertainties.
The Towards Sustainable Mining Tailings Management Protocol, first released in 2004 and revised in 2011, is used to measure tailings management performance, with five performance indicators focused on: Having a corporate tailings management policy and commitment, Developing and implementing site-specific tailings management systems and emergency preparedness measures, Assigning accountability and responsibility for tailings management, Conducting annual tailings management reviews, Developing and implementing site-specific OMS manuals
Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) is the Mining Association of Canadas (MAC) commitment to responsible mining. It is a set of tools and indicators to drive performance and ensure that key mining risks are managed responsibly at our members facilities. Adhering to the principles of TSM, our members demonstrate leadership by: Engaging with communities, Driving world-leading environmental practices, Committing to the safety and health of employees and surrounding communities, The program was established in 2004 and its main objective is to enable mining companies to meet societys needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, economically and environmentally responsible way.