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Global industry standard on tailings management

  • Health and safety
  • Land-use planning
  • Permitting processes / policy integration
  • Reporting official statistics
  • Socio-economic and environmental impact assessments

Challenge the practice is addressing: This practice addresses the industry standard on tailings management as the ultimate industry goal is to achieve zero harm to people and the environment. To achieve these goals, operators need to guarantee the safety of tailing facilities and disclose relevant information for public accountability.

Concrete practice to achieve the expected goal: To achieve the zero tolerance for human fatality and zero harm for the environment several topics need to be considered: Project-affected people need to be included in all phases of the tailings facility lifecycle, an interdisciplinary knowledge base needs to be developed to support safe tailings management and use the knowledge base for decision-making, develop and implement a monitoring plan to minimize risk and lastly establish policies to support the safety and integrity of tailings facility.

Expected impact/goal of the practice: The ultimate goal of this practice is to achieve zero harm to people and the environment.

Who is the target user group of the practice/intervention or implementing the practice/intervention? This practice is relevant for both public policy and industry contexts.

Hyperlink
Source
GLOBAL INDUSTRY STANDARD ON TAILINGS MANAGEMENT (p. 4)
Year
2020
Data item type
Practice base
Practice type
Industry
Public policy
Format
Report / document
Learning relevance
Guidelines / guidance document
Commodity
Unspecified (universally applicable)
Extractive life-cycle
Exploitation phase
Post-exploitation phase (i.e. rehabilitation)
Pre-exploitation / development stage (e.g. feasibility study)
Sustainability scope
Planning beyond the mine life
Holistic risk management and emergency preparedness
Workers well-being
Waste management
System change potential
Lower number on incidents
Lower number on incidents
To achieve these goals, operators need to guarantee the safety of tailing facilities and disclose relevant information for public accountability.