BHP and Rio Tinto have issued new guidance on improving tailings dewatering and management, following the formation of a Tailings Management Consortium (TMC).
This work has the potential to reduce the safety risks and environmental footprints associated with tailings storage facilities, the companies added.
BHP said: “We’re committed to sharing what we’ve learned with industry and working together to build capability. We’ve published the documents below to support industry progress in tailings dewatering, and we welcome feedback to help continuously improve our approach.”
Filtered stacked tailings: A guide for study managers
This document provides guidance to project study managers who are evaluating filtered tailings systems. It summarises the study methodology, shares practical insights and explains how these lessons can inform and improve filtered tailings studies.
Download the study guide.
Unlocking large tonnage filtered tailings stacks: A geotechnical perspective
This white paper presents a forward-looking geotechnical framework to enable the safe, stable and cost-effective deployment of large-tonnage filtered-tailings stacks – a potential game changer in reducing filtered tailings management capital and operating costs. It outlines key geotechnical knowledge gaps and proposes new ways to consider compaction techniques to achieve the required densities for large-scale operations, BHP says.
Download the white paper.
The TMC was first established in 2022 to accelerate technologies and practices to increase water recovery from mine tailings, focused on high volume, filtered-tailings solutions. In 2023, the TMC signed a new agreement that expanded its focus from a single pilot of large volume filtration to developing a portfolio of technologies that could significantly advance tailings dewatering.
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