Tag Archives: Brumadinho

Decipher to help miners improve tailings governance, monitoring, reporting and disclosure

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Decipher, a Perth-based cloud monitoring platform for tailings storage facilities (TSFs), has been working with industry leaders in the tech space to create an integrated TSF cloud solution to help mining companies improve governance, monitoring, reporting and disclosure of tailings data.

TSFs are integral to almost any mining activity but, due to their “toxic nature” and the vast volume of waste materials, mining companies are acutely aware of the risks and challenges that they pose, Decipher says.

“Mining operators have come to realise that a leakage or rupture can have considerable consequences such as loss of life, environmental damage, impact their social licence to operate, and cause potential financial hardship,” the company says.

Prior to the catastrophic failure of the tailings dam in Brumadinho, Brazil, in 2019, which caused a tidal wave of 11.7 million cu.m of mining waste, reportedly killing 270 people, most companies had been required to disclose relatively little information on their facilities and were able to transfer part of their tailings exposure into their General Liability, Property or Environmental Liability Insurance programs, according to Decipher.

“Almost overnight, insurers soon discovered the full financial impact that a significant failure can have on their own business, resulting in a complete overhaul in underwriting guidelines,” the company said. “As a result, mining operators are now required to be more transparent in the assessment of risks and have since experienced substantial premium increases while the insured value has dropped. According to industry experts, underwriters have recently refused to cover tailings dams where the required information was not forthcoming. Additionally, insurers have indicated that compliance with standards may be a consideration in determining future insurability and premiums for tailings facilities.”

Adding to this notion, Decipher CEO, Anthony Walker, explained that insurers can now afford to be selective in where they put their capacity.

“In order for mining companies to achieve satisfactory insurance renewal outcomes they need to be able to demonstrate that their facility adheres to governance processes and certain standards, and, that they are fulfilling their obligation to do whatever is necessary to avoid an incident from occurring, work collaboratively with auditors and underwriters on third-party reports, and comply with industry public disclosure requests such as the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative,” he said.

After speaking with several Tier 1 and 2 mining companies, Decipher has created an integrated TSF cloud solution to help companies improve governance, compliance, monitoring, reporting and disclosure of tailings data, which can potentially assist with the insurance process and flow of information, the company says.

“We have designed the solution so that customers can provide independent users such as insurers, investors, auditors and ITRB with secure access to a quick and effective knowledge management tool with selective data,” Walker said. “This enables our customers to visually demonstrate their good governance, enabling their stakeholders to better understand the facility, its risks and as a result, potentially reduce insurance premiums and improve investor sentiment.”

The solution draws on Decipher’s powerful monitoring capabilities, which has been built with Google Earth Engine at its core, and brings a variety of tailings data such as IoT devices, LiDAR, radar, CCTV, drones, inspections and remote sensing into one central location, offering customers an earth observation and visual approach to their TSF monitoring, it says.

In addition to this, Decipher has advanced tools such as InSAR Displacement, which integrates with industry leading providers so that users can more effectively monitor, measure and detect deformation of land surfaces over time and be automatically alerted to customer defined exceedances, driving greater safety precautions and reducing risk.

ICMM’s Butler talks tailings on anniversary of Brumadinho collapse

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One year on from the Brumadinho dam collapse, ICMM CEO, Tom Butler, says the mining industry may have made progress with how it operates, but it still has much more to do to on the environmental, social and governance front.

The collapse, which reportedly killed 270 people, was attributed to poor internal drainage and intense rain among other factors, Vale said back in December.

In a statement, he said: “The dam collapse at Vale’s Corrego do Feijão mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, on January 25, 2019, was a human and environmental tragedy. One year on, we remember the victims of this catastrophic event and our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones.

“The anniversary is a stark reminder that, while the mining and metals industry has come a long way in improving how it operates, there is still much more to do to safeguard lives, improve its environmental performance and demonstrate transparency.

“Shortly after the disaster, in an effort to drive change and establish best practice, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) co-convened the Global Tailings Review to establish an international standard for the safer management of tailings storage facilities. The Global Tailings Standard, once endorsed by all three co-conveners, will be published later this year. The standard will become a commitment of ICMM membership and we will encourage others to join us in advocating for it to be adopted more broadly across the industry.

“In addition, ICMM is taking action by working in partnership – with technology providers, experts and researchers – to promote innovation in the monitoring and surveillance of tailings storage facilities and the development of alternative methods of mineral recovery to significantly reduce or eliminate the generation of tailings.”

‘World-first’ public database of mine tailings dams launched

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Environmental organisation GRID-Arendal, with support from the UN Environment Program (UNEP), says it has launched the world’s first publicly accessible global database of mine tailings storage facilities.

The database, the Global Tailings Portal, was built by Norway-based GRID-Arendal as part of the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative, led by the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish National Pension Funds’ Council on Ethics, with support from the UNEP. The initiative is backed by funds with more than US$13 trillion under management, according to GRID-Arendal.

Professor Elaine Baker from the School of Geosciences is Director of the GRID-Arendal office at the University of Sydney. She said: “This portal could save lives. Tailing dams are getting bigger and bigger. Mining companies have found most of the highest-grade ores and are now mining lower-grade ones, which create more waste. With this information, the entire industry can work towards reducing dam failures in the future.”

The release of the Global Tailings Portal coincides with the one-year anniversary of the tailings dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil (pictured above – CREDIT:IDF/Flickr), which reportedly killed 270 people. After that event, a group of institutional investors led by the Church of England Pensions Board asked 726 of the world’s largest mining companies to disclose details about their tailings dams. Many of the companies complied, and the information they released has been incorporated into the database, GRID-Arendal said.

The database will allow users to view detailed information on more than 1,900 tailings dams, categorised by location, company, dam type, height, volume and risk, among other factors.

Kristina Thygesen, GRID-Arendal’s Program Leader for Geological Resources and a member of the team that worked on the portal, said: “Most of this information has never before been publicly available.”

When GRID-Arendal began in-depth research on mine tailings dams in 2016, very little data was accessible. In a 2017 report on tailings dams, co-published by GRID and the UN Environment Program, one of the key recommendations was to establish an accessible public-interest database of tailings storage facilities.

“This database brings a new level of transparency to the mining industry, which will benefit regulators, institutional investors, scientific researchers, local communities, the media and the industry itself,” Thygesen said.

Global Tailings Review opens public consultation period

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The ICMM-backed Global Tailings Review has launched a public consultation on its draft Global Tailings Standard in order to “develop a robust, fit-for-purpose international standard for the safer management of tailings”.

The public consultation, which ends on December 31, will take place in two parts.

First: online via a survey which has been translated into seven languages. Second: in-country consultations across a range of mining jurisdictions in the northern and southern hemispheres.

The Global Tailings Review was co-convened by the United Nations Environment Programme, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and Principles for Responsible Investment following the tailings dam collapse at Brumadinho, Brazil on January 25, 2019, to establish an international standard on tailings facilities management. The final Global Tailings Standard will need to be endorsed by all three parties.

The draft standard addresses six key topics:

  • Knowledge base – requires mine operators to develop knowledge about the social, economic and environmental context of a proposed or existing tailings facility;
  • Affected communities – focuses on the people living and working nearby. It requires human rights due diligence and meaningful engagement of project-affected people;
  • Design, construction, operation and monitoring of tailings facilities – aims to review design, construction, operation and monitoring of tailings facilities;
  • Management and governance – focuses on ongoing management and governance of tailings facilities. It defines a number of key roles, essential systems and critical processes;
  • Emergency response and long-term recovery – covers emergency preparedness and response in the event of a disaster, the re-establishment of ecosystems, and the long-term recovery of affected communities; and
  • Public disclosure and access to information – requires public access to information about tailings facilities in order for all stakeholders to be informed of the risks and impacts, management and mitigation plans, and performance monitoring.

“The review is committed to transparency and once the final standard is published, the Global Tailings Review will provide a consultation report that reflects feedback, key themes, topics and sentiments from different stakeholder groups, as well as how that feedback was processed and addressed in the final version of the standard,” the ICMM said.

It is expected that the final standard and accompanying recommendations report, which will outline broader proposals to support the uptake and implementation of the standard, will be published in 2020.

Vale plans significant investment in dry processing technologies, Reuters says

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Vale reportedly plans to invest $2.5 billion on, predominantly, dry processing technology as it looks to draw a line under the recent tailings dam failures that have occurred at its Brazil operations.

Reuters, citing emailed responses from Vale’s Director of Ferrous Planning and Development, Fabiano Carvalho Filho, said the Brazil-based miner would spend the amount over the next five years, with the funds mainly used to convert Vale’s Carajas iron ore mining operations in the northern portion of the country to 100% dry tailings facilities.

The news came on the same day the company released its March quarter financial results, which saw the miner report a $1.6 billion loss on the back of the recent Brumadinho dam rupture.

The company is looking to increase its dry processing operations to 70% of its overall iron ore output by the end of 2023, from 60% currently, according to the Reuters report.

Of the 17 processing lines of Plant 1 at Carajas, 11 are already using dry technologies and the remaining six wet lines will be converted by 2022, Carvalho Filho reportedly said.

In addition, the investments will also go towards two projects in Minas Gerais – one for a new iron ore processing complex, with the other focused on restarting a previously operational mine – the news agency said.

The dry processing spend is part of an existing program under which Vale has invested almost $17.5 billion over the last decade, Carvalho Filho told Reuters, adding that the investments were not directly tied to the recent tailings dam spills at the Brumadinho and Mariana dams.

Vale looks to decommission upstream tailings dams following Brumadinho breach

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Vale says it has presented to the Brazilian authorities a plan to decommission all its dams built by the upstream method.

The plan aims to “de-characterise” these structures as tailings dams in order to reintegrate them into the environment, the miner said.

The move by the miner comes less than a week after reporting a breach to the tailings dam at the Feijão mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, which saw water dispersed more than 63 km from the point of breach. As at 18:00 (Brazil time) on January 27, Vale said 361 displaced people had been found, 305 people were missing and 16 fatalities were confirmed by the Instituto Médico Legal.

Vale currently has 10 dams built by the upstream method, all of which are currently inactive. All of Vale’s dams present stability reports issued by external, independent and internationally respected companies, the company said.

The miner estimates investments of around BRL5 billion ($1.3 billion) will be necessary to decommission its upstream dams and the decommissioning process will occur over the next three years.

In order to carry out the decommissioning of the upstream dams safely and quickly, Vale will temporarily halt the production of the units where the structures are located, namely: Abóboras, Vargem Grande, Capitão do Mato and Tamanduá operations, in the Vargem Grande complex; and the Jangada, Fábrica, Segredo, João Pereira and Alto Bandeira operations, in the Paraopeba complex, also including the stoppage of the Fábrica and Vargem Grande pelletising plants.

“The operation of the halted units will be resumed as the decommissioning works are completed,” it said.

The estimated impact of the production stoppage is about 40 Mt/y of iron ore. Included in this figure is the pellet feed needed for the production of 11 Mt of pellets, an impact that will be offset by the increase in production of other systems of the company, Vale said.

Vale’s 2018 iron ore production is expected to come in at 390-400 Mt, alongside 55 Mt of iron ore pellets.

The miner added that it expected to reallocate all its collaborators currently located in the operations that will be halted.

Photo caption: Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman flies over the Brumadinho site