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#tailings

Tailings storage facilities evaluation update

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How safe is your tailings storage facility?

This was the question researchers posed to the international mining community as part of P1217, Evaluation of Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) Monitoring Technologies when it began in July 2020.

P1217 is a cornerstone project being undertaken by The University of Western Australia (UWA).

It is designed to help companies evaluate the efficacy of technology on their sites.

We asked Project Lead and UWA Professor Andy Fourie how the project was progressing.

What stage is the project at now?

The project started two years ago and reached halfway in July 2022. Initially planned as a three-year project, all sponsors unanimously agreed to extend the project by one year due in part to Covid-related challenges as well as the significant benefits expected to be achieved in the second half of the project.

What outcomes have been achieved?

The first phase of the project, namely examining current monitoring systems in the marketplace to produce an independent report on their performance, has been completed.

We have created an interactive web-based app hosted on a tailing monitoring website that sponsors may use to:

  • Determine what parameters, behaviour changes and failure modes each monitoring technology can measure.
  • Identify monitoring technologies based on user-selected combinations of parameters, behaviour changes and/or failure modes
  • Classify monitoring technologies based on user-selected combinations of criteria such as: proven track record (i.e., commercial readiness index), internal or external measurement data acquisition capabilities, precision and accuracy.

Additionally, we have collected and interpreted the tailings from the major sponsors sites which in turn, provided the blueprint for creating digital twins that can best mimic the real-life TSFs.

Thorough investigation of precursors to failure of TSFs is in full swing with centrifuge testing and numerical modelling unlocking behavioural changes that can be interrogated against monitoring instrumentation data.

What have been the highlights so far?

The visits to the major sponsors TSF site have been a true highlight for the research team. The willingness and helpfulness of the mine site personnel to host us and help us collect all the samples that we wished to have has been remarkable.

In your opinion, how is this project benefitting industry?

Close to 100 members of the sponsoring companies currently have access to our monitoring technology dashboard. The sponsors can use the dashboard for interrogating the suitability of their monitoring technologies for determining an array of preliminary monitoring technology systems that can monitor against user-specific triggering failure mechanisms or anticipated changes in behaviour for a particular TSF site.

Furthermore, the mining companies and the technology providers get real insights into the logistics of installing multiple instrumentations on active TSFs and the challenges & solutions developed to achieve successful monitoring. The knowledge sharing sessions have also proven successful in understanding what, when and how can be monitored and by whom.

Creating opportunities in South America

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In today’s post, Amira Global CEO Dr Jacqui Coombes discusses why LATAM is an important focus area for the organisation.

“Opportunity is knocking in South America.

Over recent months, Amira has been building a global network of allied organisations to help deliver new data, information, technology and innovation to our Members.

In South America, this includes a Memorandum of Understanding with the Innovation Hub of Peru, which offers a new avenue for connection within the country’s mining ecosystem.

We will also be announcing new agreements with two Chilean organisations in the coming days.

Our Head of Global Alliances and Manager LATAM, Patricio Pastorelli, is based in Santiago and can help Members connect with contacts in the region.

For Members, the Global Alliance can:

  • facilitate technology transfer
  • develop and strengthen pathways for scaling and commercialization of research and development outcomes through mining districts
  • develop standards for new technology adoption
  • develop global network of testing facilities to speed up scale up of new innovations
  • provide knowledge about LATAM market and key connections.

Why LATAM?

Amira’s role in the international mining community is to deliver transformational research and development, and innovation that will benefit our Members.

To this, we are addressing the challenges faced by industry: tailings management, water and energy use, and decarbonisation.

Tailings management is considered a mega challenge; that is, a problem that cannot be solved by one individual or organisation. It requires a holistic, concentrated, and global approach.

The cost of tailings is high, both to industry and society.

Globally, the mining industry is estimated to produce over 11.6 billion tonnes of tailings per year with 90 percent of this volume being permanently stored in tailings dams.

The lifetime cost to build, operate, maintain and close a tailings dam is estimated at over $680 million USD.

Moreover, catastrophic failure of dams is occurring at a rate of 2.2 failures per year, sadly resulting in loss of life and environmental damage, and the cost to society is estimated at up to $2.9bn USD per failure event.

One of the largest concentrations of tailings is in the Americas.

For our Members, research and innovation into tailings management is of critical importance.

It’s not only tailings!

Our focus in South America is not solely on tailings management.

The South American Exploration Initiative (SAXI) is an exciting project that is preparing to go into its second phase.

SAXI is investigating the exploration potential of the Guiana Shield and neighbouring terranes, which span Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela, extending down to the Borborema Province.

SAXI research lead Professor Mark Jessell from the University of Western Australia recently presented the highlights of the first year of SAXI’s operations. A recording of the information session is available by contacting labol1680231020g.ari1680231020ma@de1680231020er.al1680231020egna1680231020.

Decarbonisation and the demand for copper to fuel the Green Revolution will necessitate research and innovation, especially in the copper-rich South America.

An article in Stockhead outlines the potential of the region, not just for Australia (as mentioned in the article), but for all our Members.

Take the opportunity!

The Amira Global Alliance will continue to expand in South America is coming weeks.

I encourage you to connect with Patricio Pastorelli to discuss how you can benefit from the work being undertaken in the region. His email is labol1680231020g.ari1680231020ma@il1680231020lerot1680231020sap.o1680231020cirta1680231020p1680231020.

There is a vast amount of opportunity available now and we are committed to providing pathways that will be help you, our Members, continue to grow.”

Dr Jacqui Coombes
CEO Amira Global

If one fails, we all fail: tailings management

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In today’s post we discuss tailings management and the release of the Expression of Interest for the Amira Collaboration on Tailings program with Amira Global CEO Dr Jacqui Coombes.

“Tailings represent a complex issue and is driven by the need for change to occur at scale and pace.  

We are working with our Members to deliberately transform the tailings challenge in the interests of society, our industry, and the communities who work near and on our mine sites.

In our hyper connected environment, society holds companies to account as one global entity – the mining industry. 

This means, that failure by one company, in one jurisdiction has the potential to impact all, impact share price, impact ability to have new licences granted, impact ability to continue operating.

By working together, we can also address the challenge head on. 

This means identifying those audacious scientific and engineering challenges, the ones that we know if tackled and resolved will bring about shared benefit; the ones that could transform the way our industry continues to deliver resources to society, but in a way that addresses society’s expectations in an increasingly complex landscape.

How big is the challenge?

Globally the mining industry is estimated to produce over 11.6 billion tonnes of tailings per year with 90 percent of this volume being permanently stored in tailings dams. 

We all recognise that declining grades coupled with an increased demand will result in a dramatic increase in annual tailings volumes produced across the globe and in every commodity. 

The lifetime cost to build, operate, maintain and close a tailings dam is estimated at over $680 million USD. 

Moreover, catastrophic failure of dams is occurring at a rate of 2.2 failures per year, sadly resulting in loss of life and environmental damage, and the cost to society is estimated at up to $2.9bn USD per failure event.

The cost is expected to rise driven by lower grade deposits, increasing water scarcity, climate change resilience measures and increasing stakeholder expectations. 

In addition, current methods of waste generation and tailings storage will begin to act as a constraint on mining expansion. 

This may manifest as real-estate constraints that can’t accommodate increasing volumes, increasing costs related to tailings driving deposit economics, more complex minerology in deposits with finer particles and increased clay content, and of course the impact of investor scrutiny, government regulation and community opposition. 

There is a business imperative to demonstrate that mining companies can manage these increasing costs and risks.  This will require driving change through the industry, allocating adequate resources to the problem. 

The opportunity

There is opportunity for those companies that can find and implement new ways for material to be processed and stored. 

Disruption is coming to the mining business model. 

The drive for vertical integration of the supply chain (technology companies, car and battery manufacturers) mean that capital will flow from new stakeholders with new expectations. 

The demand to demonstrate ESG credentials will grow and those companies that demonstrate they have a new way of operating will attract investment. 

The depletion challenge will become more of an imperative over the next decade. 

The types of world class deposits that have driven a competitive advantage for companies in the last 30-50 years won’t necessarily be the type of deposits that unlock competitive advantage in the next decades. 

There is a need to find ways to extract metals while moving less waste, consuming less water and energy and improving dialogue with host communities. 

The companies that invest in this work will bring the next generation of resources into being. 

ACT Expression of Interest

We are tackling the challenge of change in the production and management of tailings by developing the ACT program, P1304.

ACT will support the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management ambition of zero harm to people and the environment with zero tolerance for human fatality. 

ACT is a program; it brings together multiple research projects under one umbrella to ensure we as an industry move beyond delivering point solutions to generating conditions for widespread change.

In developing the suite of projects, we are making connections between researchers, linking projects where it makes sense, and building a transdisciplinary understanding of the tailings challenge.

We are also making sure it supports implementation pathways for sustainable solutions beyond the life of a project. 

The Expression of Interest for ACT is now available and open for sponsorship.

I encourage all Members and those interested in tailings management solutions to access this proposal by contact Amira Global Manager Collaborations Bev Kubat at labol1680231020g.ari1680231020ma@ta1680231020buk.v1680231020eb1680231020.

My personal message

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 two to five 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 ACT, and the reason I encourage all of you to investigate further in order to bring about change.”

Dr Jacqui Coombes
CEO Amira Global