|
Abstract/Additional Information |
Mine tailings impoundment failures continue to occur at unacceptable rates. The worldwide mining industry has experienced roughly one significant impoundment failure per year over the past 30 years. Many of these failure events have resulted in massive damage, severe economical impact and, in several cases, loss of life.
A tailings impoundment failure case history database has been developed. In addition to an overview of this database, the basic features of a number of specific case histories are presented that provide valuable lessons to the industry. From the overall database, failure modes, failure impacts, and failure frequency are identified. The review of failure modes shows that most events can be attributed to easily preventable causes -a disappointing conclusion but one that offers a readily identifiable solution. The review of failure impacts indicates the large scale of immediate economic losses and expensive longer-term harm resulting from tailings dam failures.
The paper shows there are clear trends that arise from objectively reviewing tailings dam failure case histories. Understanding these trends greatly assists in enhancing design, construction, operation and closure stewardship of mine tailings facilities. As demonstrated by a review of case histories, an ignorance of past failure events and the lessons offered by these events can be highly contributory to subsequent failures.
The mining industry is at a crossroads with tailings impoundment performance -is the relatively constant failure frequency trend for the past 30 years going to continue or decrease as we enter this new century?
|
Resource
