Global tailings standard highlights need for software solution

Highlights

18-months on from the tailings disaster at Brumadinho, the International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) and the United Nations Environment Program has launched a new global standard for the safe management of mine tailings
Now more than ever, the monitoring of tailings storage facilities and the reporting of dam safety is critical for corporate social responsibility.
See what score you get for your TSF management
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2019 witnessed the devastating failure of Brazil’s Brumadinho’s tailings dam which took 270 people’s lives. Just two days after the tragic event, a group of investors co-led by the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish Council of Ethics of the AP Funds announced the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative. Now just 18-months on from the disaster, the International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) and the United Nations Environment Program has launched a new global standard for the safe management of mine tailings. The historic agreement covers the entire tailings storage facility (TSF) lifecycle – from site selection, design and construction, management and monitoring, through to closure and post-closure. Now more than ever, the monitoring of these facilities and the reporting of dam safety is critical for corporate social responsibility.

See what score you get for your TSF management

Perth-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, Decipher, has designed a TSF monitoring cloud solution that is providing the tools for companies to improve compliance, reporting and operational visibility. The solution has been built to adhere to industry best practice and compliance requirements such as the Global Standard, Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative, ICMM and Global Tailings Portal, and can be securely accessed by industry, regulators, designers and operators involved in the management of TSF’s. According to Decipher chief executive Anthony Walker, the resources industry is now looking for a solution that is secure, can be easily implemented, is cost effective and is globally accessible internally and externally.

“Our mission has been to develop a modern, easy to use platform to achieve this. We know mining companies collect massive amounts of monitoring data from a myriad of sources and are then required to collate this and provide constant reporting both internally and to regulators,” he said.

“We have built our platform with input from these parties so that data collection is simplified, automated as far as practically possible, presented visually on a map and supported by tools to take action and generate reports with the click of a button.

“The early adoption from Tier 1 miners and general interest has been phenomenal and it excites us that our platform can be used to support better management and monitoring for rehabilitation and closure and tailings storage facilities.” To further meet the industry’s needs, Decipher also partnered with K2fly, a global provider of technical assurance solutions for the resources industry, to create an integrated TSF solution to help companies in monitoring and governance of tailings risks. K2fly’s chief commercial officer Nic Pollock said the proposed solution would ensure the industry has access to a significantly better tool to aid monitoring and governance of TSFs to recognised standards. “Our solution reflects best practice and will support compliance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management recently endorsed by the ICMM and other Global Tailings Review convenors, as well as standards set by national regulatory bodies,” Pollock said. Decipher and K2fly have commenced discussions with several global miners about the proposed tailings management solution, which can also be deployed remotely during COVID-19. Originally published by Safe to Work.

Effectively monitor your tailings storage facility with Decipher

Decipher’s Tailings solution is designed to provide you with key data and insights, enabling you to effectively monitor your TSF and your environmental obligations and compliance. Our solution can be securely accessed by industry, regulators, designers and operators involved in the management of TSFs. Decipher offers a comprehensive and functionally rich solution which combines regulatory (Compliance Management Software), mining waste management, stakeholder engagement, environmental monitoring, and environmental management system (EMS) tools to assist with tailings management:

View real-time data and receive exceedance alerts
Monitor land movement with remote sensing and InSAR datasets
Visualise real-time LiDAR data with insights into dam movement
Securely store and access all of your tailings data in the one place
Upload and reference key documentation
Visualise facilities across multiple sites in a single screen on a geospatial map
Monitor your facilities with InSAR, LiDAR, DEM and more
Capture a wide range of monitoring data and indicators su ch as surface and groundwater, decant pond water levels and quality, and embankment conditions
Capture and track obligations and conditions around your licence to operate to manage your key risks and actions
Action and task delegation for data collection with reminders
Maintain and track environmental monitoring compliance limits and exceedances
Manage and engage with all of your stakeholders with one central repository
Convert your engagements into actionable outcomes
Forecast, plan and track your sites activities using IBM’s Weather data
Create corporate report templates and meet requests for data provision from industry groups such as ICMM, Global Tailings Portal, PRI and UNEP
Integration capability with third party systems or public portals such as the Global Tailings Portal