tailings risk management
What if the key to slashing tailings closure costs and winning community trust is to start the work decades before the mine shuts down?
For Justin Walls, Principal Consultant (Tailings Engineering) at SRK Consulting, the best time to plan for tailings storage facility (TSF) closure is now – not when the mine is about to shut down.
When Anton Kirsten took the stage at the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings 2025 conference in Brisbane, he wasted no time outlining a problem that’s been quietly growing into a full-blown crisis: there simply aren’t enough Engineers of Record (EoRs) to go around.
Tailings monitoring is a lot like health care - when it’s reactive, it can cost you dearly, but when it’s proactive, structured and consistent, it becomes a powerful tool for preventing failure, demonstrating stewardship, and building long-term confidence in your facility.
In the wake of evolving regulatory expectations and maturing risk management frameworks, mining companies are being urged to reassess how they apply critical controls to tailings storage facilities (TSFs).
At the AusIMM 2025 Life of Mine - Mine Waste and Tailings Conference in Brisbane, a standout panel on site characterisation dug deep into the evolving challenges - and innovations - facing tailings engineers.
