On possibilities of using global monitoring in effective prevention of tailings storage facilities failures

Abstract

Protection of common natural goods is one of the greatest challenges man faces every day. Extracting and processing natural resources such as mineral deposits contributes to the transformation of the natural environment. The number of activities designed to keep balance are undertaken in accordance with the concept of integrated order. One of them is the use of comprehensive systems of tailings storage facility monitoring. Despite the monitoring, system failures still occur. The quantitative aspect of the failures illustrates both the scale of the problem and the quantitative aspect of the consequences of tailings storage facility failures. The paper presents vast possibilities provided by the global monitoring in the effective prevention of these failures. Particular attention is drawn to the potential of using multidirectional monitoring, including technical and environmental monitoring by the example of one of the world's biggest hydrotechnical constructions-Żelazny Most Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), Poland. Analysis of monitoring data allows to take preventive action against construction failures of facility dams, which can have devastating effects on human life and the natural environment.

The Application of the Seismic Cone Penetration Test (SCPTU) in Tailings Water Conditions Monitoring

“…Monitoring of water conditions in hydrotechnical facilities, which includes the outflowed postflotation tailings storage facility, is one of the basic operations to ensure the safe exploitation of such facilities. The literature on this issue indicates inadequate water conditions as the main cause of failures of TSF [3][4][5]7,30,31]. Hence, the problem of proper recognition and reliable monitoring of water conditions is of particular importance.…”

“…The monitoring of water conditions in an outflow, above-ground facility is an essential element determining the safety of the operated facility [3][4][5][6]. While safe accumulation of the controlled volume of technological water in the decant pond is reduced to maintaining a certain distance from the crown of the dams to the shoreline of the pond, a network of piezometers is used to identify the location of the depression line in the tailings massif [7]. Due to the point nature of piezometric observation on the one hand, and non-hydrostatic and often discontinuous distribution of water pressure in sediments on the other, the identification of saturated and unsaturated zones of sediments in the facility's massif based on piezometric measurements is not always completely unambiguous [8].…”

Tracking Deformation Processes at the Legnica Glogow Copper District (Poland) by Satellite InSAR—II: Żelazny Most Tailings Dam

“…Azam and Li [8] summarized the major tailings dam failures from 1910 to 2010, reporting that the annual failure frequency for major tailings dams is about 0.12%, which is more than two orders of magnitude greater than the annual failure frequency for large water retention dams [9]. Major failures occur with a frequency that ranges from two to five times per year, whereas minor failures occur around 35 times per year [10]. The most common result of failure is bursting of the dam which surrounds the facility and release of a huge mass of liquefied tailings mixed with water in the form of a flood wave.…”

“…Stefaniak and Wróżyńska [10] and Bowker and Chambers [7] described some examples of the over 100 documented catastrophic failures of tailings dams in the world over the last 50 and 100 years, respectively, and Rico et al [4] conducted a study on 147 cases of tailings dam failures worldwide, 26 of which had occurred in Europe. The most important causes of failure described on literature are the following: issues related to foundations, slope instability, overfilled tailings pond, mine subsidence or deformations of the dam body, unusual heavy rainfall, water pressure excess in tailings, piping/seepage, seismic liquefaction caused by earthquakes, structural issues, management, or operational errors.…”

“…The most important causes of failure described on literature are the following: issues related to foundations, slope instability, overfilled tailings pond, mine subsidence or deformations of the dam body, unusual heavy rainfall, water pressure excess in tailings, piping/seepage, seismic liquefaction caused by earthquakes, structural issues, management, or operational errors. In many cases, no single precise cause for the failures has been identified, and various overlapping factors could combine [10]. Lyu et al [2] also summarized the influence of the failure height, the building type, the geographical location, and time distribution of the tailings dam failures, and interestingly highlighted that upstream dams have a high probability (58%) of damage, and that the majority (85%) of tailings dam failures have occurred in dams of less than 45 m high.…”