December 10, 2020
Filtered tailings disposal is seen by many as one of the best available solutions for tailings stewardship and is increasingly being evaluated as the industry seeks to improve the management of tailings. However, there are operational challenges, specific to filtered tailings facilities that can increase the complexity of operations, that require consideration during the planning and design phases of a project. Additionally, experience has shown that successful operation of a filtered tailings facility requires a robust strategy for dealing with a range of upset conditions that can generally be categorized as: process, mechanical or weather-related upsets. This paper outlines strategies that can be adopted to deal with upset conditions and presents a simplified climate analysis procedure that can be used during design to quantify how often weather-related upsets can be expected to occur on new filtered tailings projects.
Kent, N. and M-J. Piggott. 2020. “
Filtered Tailings Facilities and Upset Conditions,” in
Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Tailings and Mine Waste. Fort Collins, Colorado, Colorado State University, 15-18 November 2020.
