The Brenda Mines\u27 Cycloned- Sand Tailings Dam

For the benefit of those readers not fully conversant with mine tailings and the methods commonly used to store them, the paper presents a brief overview covering the composition of tailings and the procedures commonly used to design and construct the required tailings dams. The remainder of the paper presents a detailed description of the design, construction, and performance of the Brenda Cycloned-Sand Tailings Dam. This includes a summary and assessment of the large volume of data available from extensive field, laboratory, and office studies that have been ongoing since the start of construction in 1968. The most recent of these studies (1980-83) involved state-of-the-art seismic analyses to determine if the original dam could be raised to an ultimate height of 530 ft and remain stable under the maximum credible earthquake for the site

Seismic Design of Tialings Dam An Overview of its Evolution and New Challenges

This paper first provides an overview of the evolution of tailings dam engineering over the years. It then highlights key factors affecting seismic performance of tailings dams: such as site seismicity, foundation and damfill geotechnical characteristics, dam design, construction, operation and decommissioning, seismic slope stability, and dam rehabilitation. Finally, it reviews some of the recent trends that lead to new challenges to the engineering profession. These challenges include: coping with heightened public concern about dam safety; balancing potential conflict between seismic and environmental requirements; and addressing issues introduced by globalisation of the mining industry. Institutional responses and technological tools available to meet these challenges are outlined

Seismic Assessment of Syncrude Tailings Dyke

This paper describes the assessment of seismic risk at the Syncrude Site. It reviews the site physiographic and geologic setting and considers the site position relative to observed seismic events, strain release patterns, and main tectonic features in western Canada. Both deterministic and probabilistic approaches were employed in the seismic risk assessment. Data on seismic events that occurred between 1899 and 1985 were included in the evaluation. Of particular importance was determination of the impact on the site of a series of large earthquakes which occurred in the Nahanni area of the Northwest Territories during 1985. Hasegawa et al. (1981) attentuation relations were used for computing ground motion amplitudes at the site. The review confirmed that the seismic risk at the Syncrude Site remains low