The Tailings Center developments in 2023

The Tailings Center is an industry-university consortium with a focus on providing undergraduate and graduate education, professional development and applied and basic research in tailings and mine waste management. The university partners are the Colorado School of Mines (Mines), Colorado State University (CSU) and the University of Arizona (UArizona). The three universities have partnered with industry members, shown in Fig. 1, to address tailings workforce demands and research challenges. The Tailings Center is dedicated to tailings stewardship at the intersection of mining, mineral processing, environmental stewardship and sustainability. The Tailings Center mission is to generate and apply new tailings management knowledge by bringing together university, industry stakeholders and government to solve challenging problems through precompetitive research, faculty support, and by building a pipeline of students trained in areas of strategic importance to the green economy and U.S. infrastructure. The Tailings Center’s vision is to be the premier industry-university hub for tailings stewardship, and to be internationally recognized for science and engineering research that provides the tools necessary for sustainable management of mine tailings. We seek to: Recruit and train students and the next generation of tailings engineers.Support students, faculty and curricula in tailings engineering and management.Connect academia, government and industry.Investigate industrially relevant tailings stewardship challenges of integrating physical, chemical and microbial processes with social and economic considerations to minimize environmental and social impacts, optimize mine tailings production, enhance physical and chemical stability of tailings, and develop economically viable repurposing and valorization methods. Structure. The center director and Mines site director of the Tailings Center is Linda Figueroa, a professor jointly appointed in the civil and environmental engineering and mining engineering departments. The former center director and current industry liaison is Michael Henderson, a research professor in the Mining Engineering Department at Mines with over 40 years of professional experience in the tailings industry. Each of the participating universities have named site directors who oversee participation at each university. The Mines associate site director is Jaeheon Lee, an associate professor in the mining engineering department. Joe Scalia is the site director for CSU and an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department. Kray Luxbacher is the site director for UArizona and department head and professor of the department of mining and geological engineering. The education and outreach director of the Tailings Center is Priscilla Nelson, a professor in the mining engineering department at Mines. In March 2023, Terry Braun, president of SRK North America, was selected by industry members as the Industry Advisory Board Chair. Education.The Fundamentals of Tailings series of six short courses have been offered in 2021 (spring and fall), 2022 and 2023. The six course topics are: (1) Fundamentals of Tailings Engineering, (2) Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) Planning, Siting and Design Concepts, (3) TSF Geotechnical Design, Instrumentation and Monitoring, (4) TSF Water Management, (5) TSF Operation and Governance, and (6) TSF Closure and Reclamation. These courses were developed with direction and input from a Technical Advisory Committee, which is composed of representatives from the mining industry, consulting and state/federal agencies. These courses are taught by industry experts and are supported by faculty from the three universities. This series of fundamentals courses can be taken individually or as a complete program, leading to a Fundamentals of Tailings Engineering and Management short-course certificate. The courses are aimed at providing training opportunities for practicing professionals and graduate/undergraduate students. Total unique short-course registrations from 2021 to 2023 numbered more than 560 individuals from over 80 different organizations, with many students taking all six courses. Figure 1 Tailings Center university-industry partnerships. Figure 2 Unique capabilities available at Mines, CSU and UArizona. The organization categories were 60 percent mining companies, 25 percent consultants and 15 percent regulators. The reach of the Tailings Center through short courses has been global. In 2021 alone, shortcourse students participated from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mexico, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, Suriname, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey and the United States. In fall 2023, the university partners are collaborating to offer a Fundamentals of Tailings Engineering 1 graduate course across all three schools. All three universities have also stood up certificates in tailings engineering, with the option for courses taken to be applied toward master’s and Ph.D. degree programs at the respective universities. Research. Research needs were identified by industry members of the Tailings Center during planning workshops and refined by the Tailings Center industry-university research committee. The three universities provide complementary, unique capabilities to support research, as highlighted in Fig. 2. Research will be conducted in six research thrust areas: (1) technological innovation in tailings management, (2) in situ stabilization of tailings facilities, (3) characterization of tailings and tailings facilities, (4) water management, (5) sustainability and environment and (6) governance. Achieving this broad vision requires the collaboration of researchers in anthropology, economics, environmental engineering, civil engineering, data science, geochemistry, geology and geological engineering, geophysics, material science, metallurgy and mineral processing, microbiology, mining engineering, sociology and systems engineering. Complementary expertise in these areas brings Mines, CSU and UArizona together in an innovative partnership that breaks down traditional disciplinary silos. Precompetitive research benefits include reducing failures, tangible societal outcomes and responsible production of critical minerals and Unique capabilities available at Mines, CSU and UArizona. The center serves as an excellent model for developing workforce and professional knowledge in tailings and developing innovative and interdisciplinary research, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for mines and communities. We invite opportunities to engage and collaborate with the mining industry as we work to recruit and educate tailings practitioners and develop fundamental and applied knowledge to advance the management of tailings.

The Tailings Center developments in 2023

Authored by:
Linda Figueroa, Kray Luxbacher, Joe Scalia

To view the past issues of the UCA magazine you must be a member of SME/UCA.

From sessions to strategy: Revealing long-term and emerging innovation trends in data analytics, intelligent systems and automation

Mining education gets federal boost as industry faces workforce crunch

Critical minerals management on the federal seabed

From sessions to strategy: Revealing long-term and emerging innovation trends in data analytics, intelligent systems and automation

Mining education gets federal boost as industry faces workforce crunch

Critical minerals management on the federal seabed

To view the past issues of the UCA magazine you must be a member of SME/UCA.

Teaching mining engineering in an AI World

Tata Steel and ABB will jointly explore technologies to help reduce carbon footprint of steel production

Related Articles

Critical minerals management on the federal seabed

Copper stockpiling, transformation capacity and industrial synchronization in the US

Critical minerals: Technical and policy considerations

Historic day in Washington DC for mining education

From sessions to strategy: Revealing long-term and emerging innovation trends in data analytics, intelligent systems and automation

Mining education gets federal boost as industry faces workforce crunch

Critical minerals management on the federal seabed

From sessions to strategy: Revealing long-term and emerging innovation trends in data analytics, intelligent systems and automation

Mining education gets federal boost as industry faces workforce crunch

Critical minerals management on the federal seabed

Use Single Sign On