Abstract:

The state of practice in the design, construction and operation of tailings storage facilities (TSF) has changed radically in the last 10 years following the implementation of more robust design approaches driven by the evolution of the practice in this field. The challenge many Owners are now facing is to retrofit or adapt existing TSF constructed with outdated design criteria. To address this challenge, several options from the construction of buttress, stability berms, shear keys and soil replacement and soil improvement techniques. This presentation discusses some of the different tools available, their advantages or disadvantages. A special attention is also given to soil improvement techniques which are particularly interesting to either improve shear strength of contractive tailings or improve the shear strength of so-called brittle foundations. Based on the experience gained at several sites, soil improvement techniques design techniques need to be adapted for the specifics failure mechanisms of TSF.

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Edouard Masengo