ABRACADABRA - THE DISAPPEARING TAILINGS DAM

PAPER ABSTRACT

The independent expert review panel for the Mount Polley Tailings Storage Facility failure came out strongly recommending changes to the technology of tailings dams in British Columbia (and by inference, world-wide). The Panel had examined the historical risk profile of tailings dams in British Columbia and recommended, amongst other things, that best available technology (BAT) be adopted for tailings disposal. Examples of BAT, described by the panel, included “dry-stacking” of filtered, unsaturated, compacted tailings and reduction in the use of water covers in a closure setting. The recommended technologies would require a major shift in current practice and raises many questions, such as:

– Are these recommendations appropriate in Australia?

– Does this signal the end of the tailings dams as we know them?

– Do the current Australian National Committee on Large Dams Guidelines (ANCOLD) apply to these new BAT technologies?

– If not, is there a role for ANCOLD in setting standards for the future?

This paper discusses the Mt Polley tailings dam failure and searches for answers to these questions. In particular, this paper reviews the background to “dry-stacking’, to explore the implications for the Australian mining industry.