Avoiding dam failures: is filtration the best solution?

Authors: Fitton, TG Download Paper Open access courtesy of:

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2455_03

Cite As:
Fitton, TG 2024, 'Avoiding dam failures: is filtration the best solution?', in AB Fourie & D Reid (eds), Paste 2024: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Paste, Thickened and Filtered Tailings, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 51-64, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2455_03



Abstract:
Tailings storage has been marred with numerous catastrophic tailings dam failures in recent decades, resulting in hundreds of deaths and significant environmental damage. The mining industry has sought to develop and implement alternative methods of tailings storage in an attempt to limit the risks associated with dammed storage. Underground storage of tailings slurries and pastes has provided a partial solution at mines with underground workings, but this typically enables only a minor percentage of the total tailings stream to be stored. It can therefore not be considered a total solution for most mines, and still leaves the majority of the tailings requiring a dedicated storage facility above ground. Canadian professor Eli Robinsky introduced his concept of thickened discharge in the 1970s, featuring the central thickened discharge scheme for flat terrain and the down valley discharge scheme for steep and sloping terrain. This approach has been successfully implemented at more than 60 mines around the world with no reported major geotechnical failures or major environmental damage to date. Manufacturers of filter presses and other filtration devices have gradually developed larger equipment that can process greater volumes more economically. In recent years, more attention has been focused on the use of filtration technology for tailings storage, with some workers suggesting that it provides the ultimate solution for tailings storage in terms of the geotechnical stability and closure advantages. Geotextile tubes have also been presented as a possible damless tailings storage solution. This paper discusses the relative risks and advantages between filtered tailings and thickened discharge for tailings storage. The reliability of the technology, the cost of installation and operation, the geotechnical stability of the deposited tailings, the environmental impacts, the closure of the tailings storage facility, and the record to date for each of these two technologies will be compared and discussed. Finally, the paper questions the popularity of conventional tailings dams, and why alternative technologies like thickened discharge and filter stacking are not being more widely used instead of conventional dams.

Keywords: tailings, thickened, filtration, dry stack, tailings storage facility

References: