No abstract

Tailings dams, as essential mining structures, are being built globally for containing the chief waste stream of the mining industry. Catastrophic tailings dam breaches have occurred frequently over the past decade, causing severe impacts on the environment, economy, and human health. The foreknowledge of the tailings dam breach overland flow is crucial for the risk assessment and emergency response planning in order to prevent or minimize possible losses. Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) photogrammetry and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) numerical method, this study proposed a multidisciplinary procedure for modelling a hypothetical tailings dam breach run out flow over the downstream complex terrain. A case study on a 97-m-height tailings dam in Shandong Province of China was carried out. The proposed procedure was proven applicable to determine the overland tailings flow. The submerged area and flow velocities suggested that the downstream G2 highway would hardly be threatened and more concerns should be paid on the factory plants and workers deployed between the dam toe and the highway. Additionally, the application of UAV photogrammetry in the mining industry as a supplementary surveying method can be further expanded, especially for the numerous small-scale mining sites. The proposed procedure is then recommended for the safety management of the tailings’ storage facilities globally.

No abstract

Alternative tailings disposal technologies can be effective solutions to mining waste safety and environmental problems. The current decision-making processes for tailings disposal schemes lack consideration of environmental impacts. Based on a case study of an open-pit iron mine in northern China, this study adopted the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to compare the environmental impacts of three tailings disposal schemes of conventional slurry disposal technology (CSDT), dry stack disposal technology (DSDT) by belt conveyance and DSDT by truck transport. The results indicated that (1) the environmental impacts of the CSDT scheme were lowest under the premise that water consumption was ignored; (2) the environmental impacts of the DSDT scheme by belt conveyance mainly originated from its transport process, indicating that the tailings storage facilities (TSFs) site planning could be crucial in design decision making; (3) the environmental impacts of the DSDT scheme by truck transport mainly originated from the energy consumption of dry stacking equipment; and (4) the DSDT scheme by truck transport was eventually found to be preferable and implemented in the case study, after comprehensively considering the LCA results, TSF safety and remaining capacity, and social and policy uncertainties. It is therefore recommended to conduct LCA of environmental impacts in the decision-making process for the sustainable design of TSFs.