TAILINGS DAMS

& SUSTAINABLE
MANAGEMENT
SHORT COURSE
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND OUTLINE
Tailings dams are critical elements in most mine operations throughout Australia but it is evident
that many of these dams have not been implemented and sustainably managed in line with
modern day “risk management” approaches. Accordingly, as part of its professional
development program, the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD), in
conjunction with the Australian Centre for Geomechanics, is planning a series of seminars across
Australia on Tailings Dams and Sustainable Management. The short courses are being provided
to assist tailings dam owners, and their professional staff and advisers to provide up-to-date
Melbourne information on how to plan, implement, operate and sustainably close their dams in a safe and
Monday effective manner consistent with various Government and “duty of care” obligations.
19 May 2014
Rydges Exhibition Street
CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA
Attendees may claim as CPD hours their attendance at this short course, when
Brisbane subject to audit for the National Professional Engineers Register or National
Tuesday Engineering Technologists Register.
20 May 2014
Rydges South Bank Attendees will be issued with a certificate of attendance, detailing the hours of attendance, via
email if requested.

Newcastle WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Wednesday This short course is designed for those involved in the design, construction, operation,
21 May 2014 maintenance and decommissioning of tailings dams. Delegates will include mine management
Crowne Plaza Newcastle and operation personnel as well as consultants and government personnel working with the
mining industry.

Perth COURSE FEES

Friday
23 May 2014 ANCOLD/ACG Member $675.00
Rydges Perth Non Member $775.00
Young Professional $575.00

SPECIAL OFFER: When registering the ANCOLD Guidelines: Tailings Dams – Planning,
Design, Construction, Operation and Closure will be available for purchase at a reduced fee
of $175 (saving of $20).

All ordered copies will be available for collection at the short course.

For more information or to register visit

www.ancold.org.au
 PROGRAM
Time Topic
0730 - 0800 Registration
Arrival Tea and Coffee
__________________________________________________________________________

0800 - 0810 Welcome & Introduction

__________________________________________________________________________

0810 - 0910 Background

(Types, Past Lessons, Regulations, Guidelines, Sustainability)
__________________________________________________________________________

0910 - 0940 Management Considerations

(Waste Strategies, Risk Management, Consequence Category, Planning)
__________________________________________________________________________

0940 - 1000 Morning Refreshments

__________________________________________________________________________

1000 - 1100 Tailings Storage Methods & Deposition Principles

(Components, Environment Protection, Delivery, Containment Methods,
Melbourne Discharge Strategies, Construction Methods)
Monday __________________________________________________________________________
19 May 2014
Rydges Exhibition Street 1100 - 1200 Characterisation & Behaviour of Tailings
(Characteristics, Mineralogy, Chemistry, Rheology, Tailings Transport,
Tailings Beaches)
Brisbane __________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday
1200 - 1240 Lunch
20 May 2014
__________________________________________________________________________
Rydges South Bank
1240 - 1320 Design-Tailings Storage & Water Management
(Criteria, Water Balance, Stream & Rainfall Management, Decant,
Newcastle Evaporation, Water Recovery, Seepage, Drainage)
Wednesday __________________________________________________________________________
21 May 2014
Crowne Plaza Newcastle 1320 - 1430 Embankment Design
(Static Stability, Seismic Stability, Analysis Methods, Loading Conditions,
Safety Factors, Reliability, Sensitivity Analyses, Settlement, Durability,
Reporting & Review)
Perth __________________________________________________________________________
Friday
23 May 2014 1430 - 1450 Afternoon Refreshments
Rydges Perth __________________________________________________________________________

1450 - 1520 Construction

(Supervision, Documentation, Storage Preparation, Foundation
Preparation, Instrumentation, Material Sources, Use of Tailings
in Construction, Staged Construction, Commissioning, Reporting)
__________________________________________________________________________

1520 - 1600 Operational Issues

(Management, Training, OM&S Manual, Surveillance, Emergency Planning,
Maintenance, Security)
__________________________________________________________________________

1600 - 1630 Sustainable Closure

(Options, Closure Plan, Issues, Progressive Closure, Mine Completion,
Monitoring & Review)
__________________________________________________________________________

1630 - 1715 Case Studies

__________________________________________________________________________

1715 Wrap Up & Thank You

 COURSE PRESENTERS
This one day short course is being presented by leading dam safety and risk management
professionals including:

David Brett (Brisbane & Newcastle)

David Brett is a Senior Manager, Mine Waste and Water Management
at GHD Pty Ltd Hobart. David is a civil/geotechnical engineer with over
30 years experience in investigation, design and construction of a wide
range of engineering projects. His work in the mining industry has been
particularly focussed on water and tailings dams, waste rock dumps and
mine infrastructure.

As convenor of the committee responsible for producing the 2012

ANCOLD Guidelines on Tailings Dams, David is very much involved in
assisting the mining industry in tailings management through the
challenges of the future.

Dr Bruce Brown (Melbourne & Perth)

Brown is a civil engineer with a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering. He
has 35 years experience in the design, construction, operation,
management and closure of tailings storage facilities in all parts of the
world. He was a principal of Knight Piesold Consulting for 25 years in
Australia and Canada. In this role, his experience included facilities in all
geographic regions ranging from the deserts of Australia and the
Melbourne Artacarma Plateau to the mountains of the Andies, South Pacific and
Monday North America. He has designed facilities in tropical monsoonal and
19 May 2014 arid climates with temperatures ranging from -50°C to +45°C. Dr Brown
Rydges Exhibition Street joined Rio Tinto as Chief Adviser, Tailings and Dams in 2003. In this role,
he was responsible for the corporate assurance and risk management of
the tailings storage facilities in the group. He is now a director of Bruce Brown Consulting Pty Ltd,
Brisbane and provides high level consulting services to the mining and consulting industries.
Tuesday
20 May 2014 Professor Andy Fourie (Perth)
Rydges South Bank Andy has a Bachelor degree in civil engineering and a Masters degree
in engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg, South Africa. After working for specialist geotechnical
consulting firm, Steffen, Robertson and Kirsten (now SRK Consulting),
Newcastle on tailings storage facility construction projects, he moved to the UK,
Wednesday where he obtained a PhD in geotechnical engineering from
21 May 2014 Imperial College, London. He was a lecturer in Civil Engineering at
Crowne Plaza Newcastle University of Queensland in Australia, before taking a position at the
University of the Witwatersrand, where he became Professor of Civil
Engineering. In 2005 he moved to Australia, taking up the position of
Principal, Environmental Geomechanics at the Australian Centre for
Perth Geomechanics. In July 2008 he joined the School of Civil and Resource Engineering at the
Friday University of Western Australia as a Winthrop Professor in Engineering.
23 May 2014
Rydges Perth Norm Himsley (Brisbane & Newcastle)
Norm has over 40 years experience in the planning, investigation,
design, construction, operation and maintenance of major engineering
structures and infrastructure including buildings, dams (water and
tailings), roads, bridges, power stations and water and sewage
distribution and treatment.

He is currently a dams consultant working in the water and mining

industries and is a member of the NSW Dams Safety Committee (DSC)
charged with setting and auditing the safety standards of the 360
prescribed dams in NSW to protect the community from dam failures. In
his former position as Executive Engineer of the DSC for over 20 years,
he set up in the TAFE System, and continues to run regular training programmes for dam
operators and owners throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Norm is currently Chair of the ANCOLD Professional Development Working Group and has been
actively involved for over fifteen years with Engineers Australia, where he worked in the
education and assessment area. He has also been Chair of Sydney’s Division of Education and
Assessment Committee since 2000.
 Dr Allen Li (Brisbane)
Dr Li is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer at URS Australia, Brisbane,
Queensland. He has over 22 years experience in engineering
consulting and research. His consulting experience includes
geotechnical, geo-environmental, hydrological, geological,
hydrogeological, process and closure aspects of tailings and mine
waste management. He has been involved in design of tailings
storage facilities for numerous international projects including mining
projects in Australia, North America, South America, The Caribbean,
Central American and European countries with different climatic and
seismic conditions. He has also worked with multidisciplinary teams to
solve engineering and environmental issues in tailings and mine water
management. Dr Li has conducted simulations of tailings dam construction and potential
impacts of earthquakes and tailings liquefaction using FLAC.

Professor Ken Mercer (Perth)

Professor Mercer is Professor - Environmental and Mining
Geomechanics of the Australian Centre for Geomechanics, The
University of Western Australia.

Ken has more than 20 years experience in the civil engineering and
mining industries as a geotechnical engineer, researcher and
consultant. Ken’s areas of expertise include soil mechanics and rock
engineering in the fields of paste and thickened tailings, waste dumps
Melbourne and open pit mining.
Monday
19 May 2014 Ken holds a PhD in mining engineering from the University of the
Rydges Exhibition Street Witwatersrand, South Africa, in the field of the deformation behaviour of unsupported rock
slopes, and an MBA from Curtin University, Western Australia.

Brisbane Ken has worked as a consultant for most of his career, providing for clients mainly in Africa and
Tuesday Australia, but also as far afield as Europe and Asia. He has also gained four years of
20 May 2014 operational experience for Anglo American and BHP Billiton.
Rydges South Bank
Josh Rankin (Melbourne)
Josh Rankin has over 10 years experience in the water industry,
specifically in: Water Infrastructure Design, Project and Construction
Newcastle Management, Asset Management, Investment and Strategic Planning.
Wednesday Over the last 3 years, he has been predominantly focussed on the
21 May 2014 design, construction and strategic planning of Tailings Dams
Crowne Plaza Newcastle

Perth
Friday
23 May 2014 Keith Seddon (Melbourne)
Rydges Perth Keith has 40 years experience in mine tailings disposal including
planning, studies, geotechnical investigations, tailings
characterisation, design and permitting, construction support,
commissioning, surveillance and performance reviews, closure and
rehabilitation, as well as third party reviews and audits. His experience
includes conventional disposal, and thickened and paste tailings, over
a wide range of ore / tailings types and geographic and climatic
locations.

Professor David Williams (Brisbane & Newcastle)

Professor David Williams has a First Class Honours degree in Civil
Engineering from Monash University and a PhD in Soil Mechanics from
Cambridge University, he is currently the Golder Professor of
Geomechanics and Director of the new Geotechnical Engineering
Centre at The University of Queensland. The Centre is supported by
Golder Associates, Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti and BHP Billiton, with
matching funding from UQ, to a total of $1.2 million/annually. It
supports highly successful Geotechnical Engineering Programs, and a
wide range of research in Geotechnical Engineering.