Environmental Stewardship
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 John Stacpoole, inspector of mines at the NSW Resources Regulator, took the stage at the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings 2025 Conference in Brisbane, he didn’t waste time on pleasantries.
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 a sector where “take-or-pay” contracts have long dictated how miners move their commodities, one new entrant is promising a more flexible model that puts the needs of producers first.
In one of Australia’s wettest mining regions, a carefully engineered soil cover has proven it can keep both water and oxygen out of acid-forming waste rock - even under two metres of rain a year.
When BHP needed a new Engineer of Record for one of Australia’s most complex tailings sites, the Olympic Dam handover became a masterclass in how to get it right.
GV Price, senior staff consultant with KCB Australia, has spent a career helping mines grapple with the nuances of geotechnical standards.
In a mining landscape increasingly defined by lower ore grades, ESG scrutiny, and complex feedstocks, recovery performance has never been more critical.
As the mining industry edges closer to a tipping point on tailings management, a panel of global experts at the 2025 Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings Conference in Brisbane issued a clear message: discipline in operations, humility in design, and a more adaptive mindset will be critical to preventing the next tailings disaster.
At a time when mining operations are under growing pressure to optimise resource use, reduce waste, and demonstrate environmental stewardship, access to real-time data is no longer a luxury - it’s a necessity.
