Tailings management in the mining industry is regulated through comprehensive frameworks that emphasize safety, environmental protection, and community engagement throughout the lifecycle of tailings storage facilities (TSFs).
Key regulatory aspects include:
- Governance and accountability: Effective governance structures ensure decision-making accountability, risk management, and emergency preparedness, supported by rigorous technical and engineering practices across the life of the tailings facility.
- Risk-based and performance-oriented standards: Regulations require risk-informed design, operation, monitoring, and closure of TSFs, often grounded in international best practice standards, to prevent failures and environmental harm.
- Lifecycle approach: Tailings management regulations cover all phases from design, construction, operation, to closure and post-closure, requiring ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement.
- Monitoring and reporting requirements: Operators must implement detailed monitoring systems and provide transparent reporting to regulators and stakeholders about performance, safety, and environmental impact.
- Community and Indigenous engagement: Regulations increasingly mandate meaningful consultation, participation, and consent processes with affected communities, ensuring social license and respect for Indigenous rights.
- Environmental and safety legislation compliance: Tailings operations must comply with specific mining acts, environmental protection laws, water quality policies, and health and safety regulations, which vary by country but share common principles of minimizing risks.
- Use of best available technology: Regulations encourage or require the adoption of safer technologies such as filtered tailings and prohibit high-risk practices like upstream dam construction.
- Financial assurance: Operators may be required to provide financial securities or insurance to cover long-term tailings management and rehabilitation obligations.
Examples of regulatory frameworks and guidelines include the ICMM Tailings Management Good Practice Guide, national mining and environmental acts (e.g., in South Australia, Canada, and other jurisdictions), and the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management that provide detailed requirements for safe and responsible tailings management(Tailing management, n.d).
Reference:
https://www.icmm.com/website/publications/pdfs/innovation/2025/tailings-management-good-practice-guide-2nd.pdf?cb=94652
