Guideline for Environmental Impact Assessment and Monitoring of Tailing Dams

Executor of project: The Research Institute of Earth Sciences 

2021

The present collection of reports is concerned with environmental management of tailing dams and provides guidelines for site selection and monitoring as well as an instruction of environmental impact assessment of Tailing Storage Facilities (TSF) and in particular tailing dams. Achieve this goal required a comprehensive understanding of the parameters that affect the environment during the life cycle of TSFs, from the design and planning phase to the post-closure phase. 
The first volume of this collection deals with the introduction of tailing dams, their types, and Physico-chemical and technical-engineering properties. Various methods for tailing management including TSF are described based on their construction, materials, and other existing classifications, and they are then discussed for their advantages and disadvantages in comparison to each other. Risks and environmental impacts of TSFs along with experimental examples from different countries are explained in the second volume while the third volume includes the regulations related to tailings dams worldwide. The fourth volume presents the principles and considerations for tailing dam site selection. Design and planning and all required variables from an environmental perspective are discussed in the fifth volume.  Criteria and technologies for closure, rehabilitation, and post-closure phases with particular attention to stability and hydrological and pollution issues are described in volume Six of this collection. The current work in volumes seven and eight covers all aspects of monitoring, inspection, and control programs for TSFs in a variety of quantitative and qualitative forms, basic and technical, visual and using precise instruments at different time intervals by stating the role of technology and engineering systems in monitoring. 
This collection has been produced based on an extensive study of the most up-to-date credible international sources, including global guidelines, standards, books, and scholarly articles. As a volume exclusively presents in detail the current macro-laws and guidelines in the leading countries and introduces the reference organizations which have released globally-known code of practices for management of tailing dams. National laws, regulations and approvals are also provided to support this study.