#FutureTailings

Amira is currently working with the Amira Tailings Collaboration, who together are accountable for 35% of the world’s planned tailings for 2025, to shape collaborative and individual priorities for further assessment of emerging R&D+I2 submissions (see here for submissions portal).

The intensive workshops with these operator members across three core challenge themes:

1. Avoiding catastrophic failure
2. Step change in volume through repurposing
3. Step change in volume through the tailing creation processes across the mine value chain  

Amira’s focus is on the key breakthroughs required to unlock and deliver the step changes.  This means respecting and aligning with the good work already in progress around the world.  To this, Amira and ICMM meet quarterly to ensure alignment of works in progress to the benefit of our industry and the communities within which our members operate.  

The Amira Tailings Collaboration provides deep industry knowledge and leadership to drill down into the three core themes to better articulate the breakthrough expectations required to invoke the step changes the group is expecting.  This leadership group is also collaborating to identify their corporate and collaborative priorities, including exploring industry wide efforts necessary to enable significant reduction in tailings volumes.  It is a privilege to witness the degree of frank collaboration (within the bounds of anti-trust policies) and the alignment as well as the variability in considerations, approaches, and priorities. 

One of the emerging considerations is the degree of interdisciplinary collaboration required to address some of the challenges.  In addition, the leadership group is noting the importance of developing transdisciplinary expertise to ensure deployment and delivery to translate these integrated approaches creating the R&D+I2 outcomes back into industry. 

The collaboration is operating under a multiparty NDA available to Amira’s Operator Members.  This group is driving the development of the Amira tailings R&D+I² breakthrough roadmap with a direct and deliberate intention of creating step change in their tailings volumes within the medium to long term.  If your organisation is interested in being part of this Tailings leadership group, please contact Sara Sulway, GM Member Engagement.

The Amira tailings R&D+I² breakthrough roadmap cuts across technologies readiness levels.  Amira’s supplier members are encouraged to submit their technological breakthrough ideas here for showcasing to Amira’s members at the April R&D Forum.

Jacqui Coombes, CEO | Amira Global

My wedding ring is a symbol of my love for my dearest life partner.  It serves no other purpose, and certainly no utilitarian purpose.  And yet, I know that ounce for ounce behind my beautiful symbol of love, my ring is responsible for 2 to 5 cubic meters of tailings sitting somewhere, risking someone, and going nowhere with our current industry approaches to tailings.

When I extend this thinking to the technology and equipment that surrounds me, I am stunned by the potential scale of my personal tailings’ footprint. 

So how do we contemplate addressing our shared tailings footprint, acknowledging that each of us holds indirect links to this, our industry’s greatest legacy challenge?

One way is to seek breakthroughs within a shared collaborative framework.  This is the fundamental basis for an Amira Tailings Collaboration that has joined forces to take a lead in transforming the Tailings landscape. 

Amira’s Minerals Operator Members together are accountable for nearly 60% of the world’s planned tailings facilities for 2025.  From this group, Amira has established a Tailings Collaboration.  Together this collaboration is accountable for 35% of the planned tailings volume across the globe in 2025.  This accountability cuts across commodities, continents and countries (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Amira Collaboration’s Global Footprint

The consequences associated with the volumes within the collaborator’s facilities are dominated by high consequence categories (Figure 2).  Three quarters of the collaboration’s planned tailings volume for 2025 is recognised as in the high consequence category, which serves to highlight the enormity of the responsibility we all carry as an industry and as a society, and the emphasis the collaboration is placing on seeking submissions in Amira’s call for R&D+I2 call for short form proposals in theme of “Avoiding catastrophic failure”. 

Figure 2: Amira Collaboration’s Volume by consequence

In addition to this theme, the collaboration is seeking submissions in the themes that focus on reducing tailings volume – in creation and through repurposing.

We welcome submissions across the spectrum of research, development, innovation and implementation.  Find out more here.

Submissions of current technology and innovations from Amira’s supplier Members are also sought.

Amira is excited about connecting and creating pathways to accelerate breakthroughs to our industry’s tailings mega-challenge.