Abstract

With increasing demand for the minerals, there is an increasing trend in the tailings production.  It has been estimated that nickel, lithium, and cobalt production need to increase by 150% to supply the electric vehicle and clean energy sector in the coming years. This significant increase in metals production will result in a corresponding significant increase in tailings production and need for proper management. There is need to restore trust and confidence in the industry’s ability to safely manage tailings as the ongoing rate of the tailings failure is not acceptable for society and industry. This paper discusses tailings dewatering technologies and the key factors in making decisions on the deposition technology selection.  The adoption of different tailings dewatering techniques over time across the mining industry is analyzed, with particular attention to the proportion of mines using or planning to use dewatering techniques. It does appear that there is growing knowledge of the benefits of dewatering in the industry and greater emphasis being placed on socioeconomic factors where filtered tailings demonstrate benefits over conventional tailings facilities. An increasing number of projects are assessing risks and other benefits in terms of reputation, sustainability and responsible mining, increasing the likelihood of adoption of dewatering technologies. In addition, social pressure and regulations are likely to increase cost of the conventional management while requesting to minimize water consumption, tailings dam failure risk together with increasing demand for progressive reclamation. These factors continue to favor tailings dewatering technology over conventional tailings storage. With increasing demand for the minerals, there is an increasing trend in the tailings production.  It has been estimated that nickel, lithium, and cobalt production need to increase by 150% to supply the electric vehicle and clean energy sector in the coming years. This significant increase in metals production will result in a corresponding significant increase in tailings production and need for proper management. There is need to restore trust and confidence in the industry’s ability to safely manage tailings as the ongoing rate of the tailings failure is not acceptable for society and industry. This paper discusses tailings dewatering technologies and the key factors in making decisions on the deposition technology selection.  The adoption of different tailings dewatering techniques over time across the mining industry is analyzed, with particular attention to the proportion of mines using or planning to use dewatering techniques. It does appear that there is growing knowledge of the benefits of dewatering in the industry and greater emphasis being placed on socioeconomic factors where filtered tailings demonstrate benefits over conventional tailings facilities. An increasing number of projects are assessing risks and other benefits in terms of reputation, sustainability and responsible mining, increasing the likelihood of adoption of dewatering technologies. In addition, social pressure and regulations are likely to increase cost of the conventional management while requesting to minimize water consumption, tailings dam failure risk together with increasing demand for progressive reclamation. These factors continue to favor tailings dewatering technology over conventional tailings storage. With increasing demand for the minerals,