29 September - 1 October 2010

Sheraton Perth Hotel, Western Australia

LATEST NEWS!

Mine Waste 2010 has sponsorship and exhibitor package opportunities available. Sponsorship Packages.

The Conference programme is now available.

Keynote Speakers

Gary Bentel, Australia

'The real value to the mining industry of of leading-practice waste management.'

Michael Shelbourn, Barrick Gold of North America, Inc., USA

'Geotechnical design verification and performance assessment of tailings storage facilities.'

Graeme Spiers, Laurentian University, Canada

'Development of a future from a mining legacy.'

Background

Whether the mining industry is in a boom period or a downturn, the universal truth is that there is rarely money to be made out of tailings management. The reality is that it is invariably solely a cost to a company. An understandable management approach is one in which cost minimisation is the sole criterion for successful tailings management.

However, as has occurred time and time again, decisions based purely on minimising costs have led to major structural failures and disastrous environmental releases. Within the past three years there have been at least three failures of tailings storage resulting in fatalities, as well as many more minor incidents, all of which serve to tarnish the image of the mining industry. At a time when media and public scrutiny of incidents such as this is becoming more intense, the continuing licence to operate, as well as obtaining clearance for new developments, is being threatened by stakeholder perceptions of the dangers posed by mine waste storage facilities.

Seminar Objectives

This seminar will tackle the full range of issues that constitute risks in the management of mining wastes, particularly tailings and waste rock. It will provide a forum where practitioners, researchers and regulators can debate key shortcomings in our current understanding of the performance of mine waste storage facilities and associated risks faced by owners and operators of these facilities.

Seminar Themes

Co-disposal
Design and analysis
Geochemistry
Geosynthetics in mining
Landforms and decommissioning
Management and operations
Material characterisation
Planning, legal and environment
Thickened tailings
Visualisation tools and technologies

The driving goal of this seminar is that delegates will come away with a number of new ideas and potential solutions for dealing with their mining waste issues in a way that minimises the impacts of these facilities on communities and the environment.