Ground models for tailings management

Tailings and tailings storage facilities (TSF) are an unavoidable by-product of mining, the improper design, construction and management of which has historically caused significant environmental and societal impacts. The 2020 ‘Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management’ (GISTM) was introduced into tailings management practice to ‘achieve the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment and zero tolerance for human fatality’ and provides the framework by which facility operators, designers, consultants and other stakeholders approach tailings management. GISTM includes the requirement of a site characterization, considered to be equivalent to an Engineering Geological Model (EGM). The development of robust site characterization(s) for tailings management is considered to require a series of interrelated ground models that make up the EGM and critically include a conceptual geological model, a total geological history approach and a component of digital modelling. This paper provides a framework for the development of ground models for tailings management through the complete TSF lifespan, from concept to closure, by the reinterpretation of existing ground model literature in a mine-waste specific and GISTM compliant context.