Safer tailings storage facilities (TSFs) – or tailings dams – can be achieved when mine owners, contractors and engineering consultants work closely together, says SRK Consulting senior geotechnical engineer Linda Spies. Speaking after a recent Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) conference focusing on tailings dams, Spies says mining executives today need greater assurance that their tailings dams are safe, with controls becoming much stricter.
