PREFACE
The TC221 on Tailings and Mine Waste was launched by the ISSMGE in March 2020. Its purpose is to provide a platform to discuss, exchange, and disseminate scientific advances, expert knowledge, and practical know-how in all geotechnical engineering issues related to the design, construction, and closure of the earth structures required for the storage of waste materials resulting from mining processes. The First International Conference on Geotechnics of Tailings and Mine Waste (1-ICGTMW), held from 24 to 26 October 2023, in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with a focus on the geotechnical characterization, design, stability, construction, and monitoring of tailings dams and mining waste deposits is an important step towards fulfilling the purpose of the TC221.
Mining engineers conceive mining waste structures as part of the requirements imposed by the operation of mines and mineral exploitation. However, materials characterization, design, and stability analysis are primarily addressed by geotechnical engineers. The proper technical management of tailings and mining waste and decision-making depends on geotechnical engineering analyses. The wide range of challenging geotechnical topics covers different issues going from the evaluation of the complex hydro-mechanical behavior and the characteristic mechanical properties of these particular granular materials to the verification of the long-term stability for the closure stage.
Tailings dams and rock waste dumps belong to the largest and most complex modern earth structures. As large catastrophic failures have shown in the past, they pose a huge risk for the people and the environment, and for this reason, they demand the highest technical expertise and the best level of geotechnical engineering available. By bringing together geotechnical practitioners, experts, and researchers working in the field of tailings and mining waste as well as disseminating and improving the state of the art in this field, the 1-ICGTMW has significantly contributed to the sustainable development of the extractive industry.
Prof. Fernando Schnaid
Secretary TC221
Univ. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Prof. Roberto Cudmani
Vice Chair TC221
Zentrum Geotechnik, Techn. Univ. of Munich
Dr. Ramón Verdugo
Chair TC221
CMGI Chile
Brazil, October 2023
