Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks

Abstract Tailings facility failures represent a significant risk to the environment and communities globally, but until now little data was available on the global distribution of risks and characteristics of facilities to ensure proper governance. We conducted a survey and compiled a database with...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Daniel M. Franks, Martin Stringer, Luis A. Torres-Cruz, Elaine Baker, Rick Valenta, Kristina Thygesen, Adam Matthews, John Howchin, Stephen Barrie
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e2d30755e17242cfb6a265f1992d60a6
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:e2d30755e17242cfb6a265f1992d60a6
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e2d30755e17242cfb6a265f1992d60a62021-12-02T15:54:01ZTailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks10.1038/s41598-021-84897-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e2d30755e17242cfb6a265f1992d60a62021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84897-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Tailings facility failures represent a significant risk to the environment and communities globally, but until now little data was available on the global distribution of risks and characteristics of facilities to ensure proper governance. We conducted a survey and compiled a database with information on tailings facilities disclosed by extractive companies at the request of institutional investors. Despite limitations in the data, this information disclosure request represents the most comprehensive survey of tailings facilities ever undertaken. The compiled dataset includes 1743 tailings facilities and provides insights into a range of topics including construction method, stability, consequence of failure, stored volume, and the rate of uptake of alternative technologies to dewater tailings and reduce geotechnical risk. Our analysis reveals that 10 per cent of tailings facilities reported notable stability concerns or failure to be confirmed or certified as stable at some point in their history, with distinct trends according to construction method, governance, age, height, volume and seismic hazard. Controversy has surrounded the safety of tailings facilities, most notably upstream facilities, for many years but in the absence of definitive empirical data differentiating the risks of different facility types, upstream facilities have continued to be used widely by the industry and a consensus has emerged that upstream facilities can theoretically be built safely under the right circumstances. Our findings reveal that in practice active upstream facilities report a higher incidence of stability issues (18.3%) than other facility types, and that this elevated risk persists even when these facilities are built in high governance settings. In-pit/natural landform and dry-stack facilities report lower incidence of stability issues, though the rate of stability issues is significant by engineering standards (> 2 per cent) across all construction methods, highlighting the universal importance of careful facility management and governance. The insights reported here can assist the global governance of tailings facility stability risks.Daniel M. FranksMartin StringerLuis A. Torres-CruzElaine BakerRick ValentaKristina ThygesenAdam MatthewsJohn HowchinStephen BarrieNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Daniel M. Franks Martin Stringer Luis A. Torres-Cruz Elaine Baker Rick Valenta Kristina Thygesen Adam Matthews John Howchin Stephen Barrie Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
description	Abstract Tailings facility failures represent a significant risk to the environment and communities globally, but until now little data was available on the global distribution of risks and characteristics of facilities to ensure proper governance. We conducted a survey and compiled a database with information on tailings facilities disclosed by extractive companies at the request of institutional investors. Despite limitations in the data, this information disclosure request represents the most comprehensive survey of tailings facilities ever undertaken. The compiled dataset includes 1743 tailings facilities and provides insights into a range of topics including construction method, stability, consequence of failure, stored volume, and the rate of uptake of alternative technologies to dewater tailings and reduce geotechnical risk. Our analysis reveals that 10 per cent of tailings facilities reported notable stability concerns or failure to be confirmed or certified as stable at some point in their history, with distinct trends according to construction method, governance, age, height, volume and seismic hazard. Controversy has surrounded the safety of tailings facilities, most notably upstream facilities, for many years but in the absence of definitive empirical data differentiating the risks of different facility types, upstream facilities have continued to be used widely by the industry and a consensus has emerged that upstream facilities can theoretically be built safely under the right circumstances. Our findings reveal that in practice active upstream facilities report a higher incidence of stability issues (18.3%) than other facility types, and that this elevated risk persists even when these facilities are built in high governance settings. In-pit/natural landform and dry-stack facilities report lower incidence of stability issues, though the rate of stability issues is significant by engineering standards (> 2 per cent) across all construction methods, highlighting the universal importance of careful facility management and governance. The insights reported here can assist the global governance of tailings facility stability risks.
format	article
author	Daniel M. Franks Martin Stringer Luis A. Torres-Cruz Elaine Baker Rick Valenta Kristina Thygesen Adam Matthews John Howchin Stephen Barrie
author_facet	Daniel M. Franks Martin Stringer Luis A. Torres-Cruz Elaine Baker Rick Valenta Kristina Thygesen Adam Matthews John Howchin Stephen Barrie
author_sort	Daniel M. Franks
title	Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
title_short	Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
title_full	Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
title_fullStr	Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
title_full_unstemmed	Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
title_sort	tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e2d30755e17242cfb6a265f1992d60a6
work_keys_str_mv	AT danielmfranks tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT martinstringer tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT luisatorrescruz tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT elainebaker tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT rickvalenta tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT kristinathygesen tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT adammatthews tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT johnhowchin tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks AT stephenbarrie tailingsfacilitydisclosuresrevealstabilityrisks
_version_	1718385482687053824

Tailings facility disclosures reveal stability risks

Ejemplares similares