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Client: Minera Escondida Ltda.
Location: Northern Chile
Completion Date: Ongoing
Project Highlights: Tailings Facility and Water Recovery
The Minera Escondida Ltda. copper mine is located in the high altitude, arid, seismically active Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The newly commissioned Laguna Seca Tailings Facility is
designed to store 3.3 billion tonnes of tailings produced over 40 years. The tailings will be stored behind a 5 km long, 80 m high tailings dam. For the design of the Laguna Seca Tailings Facility,
Klohn Crippen has been involved in: geotechnical and geophysical site investigations; seismic risk assessment; tailings dam, water reclamation and impoundment design; construction monitoring;
and field support for start-up and ongoing operation assistance. Klohn Crippen has also performed extensive work on optimizing water recovery from the facility including the release of
water in the thickeners, initial runoff from the tailings beaches and long-term consolidation. This work has included design, laboratory testing, field studies and monitoring of full-scale operations.
Services:
- Geotechnical/geophysical investigation
- Design of tailings dam
- Impoundment design
- Field support for start-up
- Seismic risk assessment
- Water reclamation
- Construction monitoring
- Ongoing operational assistance
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