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Geotechnical News • December 2017
WASTE GEOTECHNICS
Henry Brehaut addresses the audience during the opening Keynote
Presentation (courtesy of Jen Stogowski Photography).
Recap of 2017 Tailings and Mine Waste Conference
Vivian Giang, Nicholas Beier, Dave Sego and G. Ward Wilson
Between November 5 and 8, 2018,
over 350 mine waste managers,
engineers, regulators and researchers
gathered at the Banff Springs Hotel
in Banff, Alberta, for the 21st Inter-
national Conference on Tailings and
Mine Waste. The University of Alberta
Geotechnical Centre and Oil Sands
Tailings Research Facility (OSTRF)
hosted the conference, which provided
attendees an opportunity to discuss
the latest developments in tailings and
mine waste management.
The University of Alberta is one of
three hosting universities for this
conference, which began in 1978 at
Colorado State University. Participants
representing 18 countries presented
new ideas and made professional
contacts with others who have mutual
interests and goals. Thirty-seven
exhibitors were also present at the
conference to showcase their technolo-
gies and services.
The conference featured seven
keynote presentations on a variety of
topics. Presenters included:
Henry Brehaut
, President, Global
Sustainability Services Inc. – Cata-
strophic Tailings Dam Failures – Path
Forward
John Cunning
, Principal and Geo-
technical Engineer, Golder Associ-
ates; and
Mark Hawley
, President
and CEO, Piteau Associates Group of
Companies – Introducing Guidelines
for Mine Waste Dump and Stockpile
Design
Terry Eldridge
, Principal, Golder
Associates – Advances in Tailings
Management in South America
Richard Davidson
, Senior Principal
and Vice President, AECOM – The
State of Mining Geotechnics
Tamara Giles
, Senior Technical
Advisor, Tailings, Canada’s Oil Sands
Innovation Alliance – Update on Oil
Sands Tailings Research
Dr. Gord McKenna
, President and
Geotechnical Engineer, McKenna
Geotechnical Inc. – Density and
Strength Requisites for Capping and
Reclaiming Soft Tailings to Meet
Land-Use Goals
Luke Russell
, VP External Affairs,
Hecla Mining Company – Filtered
Tailings: A Silver Bullet?
Special to this year, the Mining
Association of Canada (MAC) held a
workshop on “Updates to the Tail-
ings Management Component of the
Towards Sustainable Mining® (TSM)
Program”. Dr. Michael Davies (Senior
Advisor, Tailings & Mine Waste,
Teck Resources, and Chair of MAC’s
Tailings Working Group) and Charles
Dumaresq (Vice President, Science
and Environment Management, Min-
ing Association of Canada) provided
an overview of MAC’s TSM program.
The workshop also detailed revisions
to the TSM Tailings Management
Protocol, which describes performance
measurement indicators for tailings
management, and officially launched
the third edition of
Guide to the Man-
agement of Tailings Facilities.
Prior to the conference, Four short
courses were offered, including “A
Step by Step Guide to Risk Informed
Decision Making for Mining Projects
and Operations”, “Cover Design and
Construction for Tailings, Waste Rock,
