Tailings and Mine Waste 2024 Conference Program

Plenary Sessions

Session 1: A Corporate Look at Tailings Management – Lessons Learned

Monday, November 11, 2024

Join on the us for the first plenary session of the 2024 T&MW conference. The event will feature a welcome address by a representative of Freeport McMoRan, our Patron Sponsor, highlighting the 20-year evolution of tailings management.  This session will also feature speakers from three mining companies discussing their tailings management journey.  They will discuss lessons learned along the way and their outlook for future tailings management.  The session will conclude with an interactive panel discussion with live questions form the audience.

Panelists:

Session 2: 2030 and Beyond – Perspectives on Evolving Tailings Management

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Plenary Session Abstract: Tailings Facility Engineering – The Next Frontier

The future of tailings engineering is poised to embrace innovative technologies and methodologies to enhance sustainability and safety. Real time information management, advanced monitoring, predictive modeling and new deposition techniques aim to mitigate environmental impacts and ensure the integrity of structures, reflecting a shift towards more responsible and efficient industry practices. Tailings engineering continues to evolve, integrating new research and technologies to meet the challenges of modern mining operations and environmental stewardship. This session will explore the near-future through the presentation What could Tailings Facility Engineering look like in 2030, presented by Andrew Witte, and speculate about the more remote future, through a panel discussion with diverse industry experts. 

Panel Abstract: 2030 and Beyond – Perspectives on Evolving Tailings Management

The panel session will expand on the concepts presented by Witte et al. by engaging a number of diverse tailings management professionals. The panel will provide their perspective of the 2030 vision of initiatives and advancements from owner, engineering, and other perspectives. Then, the panelists will explore even further into the future. They will discuss how we can build competency and capacity from the current shortage of qualified tailings professionals, how characterization of tailings and development of improved tools for characterization will change classical design approaches, and how a new vision for closure planning could emerge. The panel will be moderated, and opportunities for audience engagement will be available

Panelists:

Session 3: Are we getting distracted? How can we best use the GISTM as an effective path to risk reduction rather than it becoming a path to box-check auditing?

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) co-convened a global tailings review (GTR) to establish the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management on the 5^th of August 2020.

The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management strives to achieve the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment with zero tolerance for human fatality. Underpinned by an integrated approach to tailings management, the Standard aims to prevent catastrophic failure and enhance the safety of mine tailings facilities across the globe. It embodies a step-change in terms of transparency, accountability and safeguarding the rights of project affected people. (GTR 2020)

Is the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management effective at achieving its goals? Are we, as the tailings practitioner industry, getting distracted from these goals and in particular the ultimate goals and commitment to zero fatalities? How do we best use the GISTM as a path to risk reduction rather than having it become simply another path to auditing and consuming valuable time from the limited number of qualified tailings practitioners.

This plenary session will focus on these questions as we hear from four different perspectives followed by a moderated discussion based upon questions from those attending on how the industry can best achieve the GTR goals.

Panelists:

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