Tailings storage facilities in the Philippines: environmental, geotechnical and seismic design considerations

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The Philippines is a country known to have rich deposits of gold, copper, nickel, and is currently listed as the fifth most mineral-rich country in the world. It has the third largest deposits of gold, fourth for copper, and fifth for nickel. In 2021, the government lifted the ban on open pit mining to reinvigorate the industry. The resumption in the operations led to the construction of new tailing storage facilities (TSF), as well as expansion of existing ones to contain the mining by-products. As the design approach and construction methodology for large embankment dams continue to develop through the years, it is imperative that new TSFs be designed in accordance with latest guidelines such as ICOLD, ANCOLD and GISTM. This paper presents the geotechnical and seismic design considerations for TSFs in the Philippines in accordance with the latest international guidelines and in conformance with the strict guidelines of the Philippine Department Environment of Natural Resources Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB). The challenges in designing structures in a region endangered by several geohazards, both seismic and climate related, such as the Philippines are discussed. Discussions focus on seismic tests using seismic velocity logging (SVL) to obtain dynamic properties of the soil, hydrologic and hydraulic study for flood design, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) to quantify the overall seismic hazard of the area and obtain appropriate ground motions, and non-linear time history analysis (NLTHA) to assess the performance of the dams during earthquake events. Case studies for mining projects are discussed.

9th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG2023)

Resource Mining and Extraction