The latest developments in governance, safety, stakeholders, design and operation were the main topics at the 4th International Seminar on Tailings Management, Tailings 2017, which took place July 12-14.
The almost 300 professionals that attended the fourth version of the seminar valued the relevance of the issues covered by the 46 technical presentations by authors from 14 countries, as well as 10 plenary presentations given by distinguished mining company executives.
"This version highlighted design (geotechnical, transportation, rheology, thickening and filtering, hydrogeology, etc.) and operation themes, and experiences of mining companies in operation of their tailing storage facilities and new considerations for updating designs. The importance given to governance in tailings storage facilities was also a relevant aspect, one that has been trending lately, which shows how the topics analyzed and discussed at the seminar are very current”, affirmed the Corporate Manager of Water and Tailings at Codelco, and seminar Chair, René Orellana.
“Tailings addresses tailings on several fronts. In this version, security, governance and stakeholders were stressed issues, which was reflected in a session specifically devoted to these topics. The emergence of these issues is due to important, recent, failures that occurred around the world that have made clear the need for not only technical analysis in tailings, but also analysis on how tailings storage facilities are implemented and controlled, which is certainly related to the mining organization and its culture”, said Hugo Quelopana, Specialist Engineer at Delfing and Technical Coordinator of the seminar.
The expert also highlighted the technical and plenary presentations that covered effective communication with communities as he considers it an important topic for the mining sector.
During the Closing Ceremony, the 5th version of the seminar was announced for July 2018, intent on keeping Tailings an opportunity to share experiences among those who are part of tailings management and fostering networking among peers.
