Mine tailing facilities contain the waste material removed during the mining process, whereas spoil managements house the remains after the processing and removal of precious materials.
Where spoil contains only overburden or waste rock, due to the techniques used throughout the extraction process, tailings are usually a slurry of fine particles and may include but are not limited to rock, sand, chemical reagents and processed water. Spoil is commonly stored as a conical piles, whilst tailings are typically sorted in dams. The unravelling and ultimate collapse of either can result catastrophic consequences including injury and loss of life, significant impact to communities, and extensive damage to the environment.
It’s understood that the geotechnical integrity can be irretrievably weakened by processes hard to identify, including abnormal pore pressures induced by ground water permeating and eroding the embankment or foundations of these structures.
The current process to monitor and assess these storage facilities for signs of failure rely heavily on visual inspections conducted by workers walking along the unstable perimeter and Piezometer-like devices with imperfect measurement capabilities. There is currently limited research surrounding the precursors or indicators to provide early detection of a failing wall. Therefore, no real monitoring process can provide an accurate assessment of real-time dam or spoil dump stability.
With the recent significant failures, a better way to monitor and maintain tailing storage facilities is required to improve safety and asset monitoring, and avoid environmental catastrophe.
