Over the past few years, my attention has turned from overall sustainability matters to how we can reduce the risks of mining wastes. There are many opportunities to create value from wastes, and to alter the way that wastes are managed in order to reduce long-term risks to the environment, as well as to society.

Bringing diverse minds together, and applying innovative solutions, we can find ways to eliminate the potential for catastrophic tailings dam failures.

As we experience and respond to the global pandemic, I truly believe that we are in the midst of some unique, significant learning and growth opportunities. This article is about some of the lessons we can learn from the responses to this pandemic, and how we might use these insights to make some changes in the mining industry, specifically focused around our waste management practices.

I am tired of hearing about the regularity of tailings dam failures, and distraught over the growing severity of consequences of the failures of late. In my opinion, it isn’t acceptable to continue creating such high levels of risk. As operators, we shouldn’t have to be creating and managing massive risk management programs, nor practicing massive emergency and evacuation protocols, for materials that we produce. We have control of what we create, to a large degree, if not entirely. And we have the power, and information, to make better decisions. So let’s see how we might do so.

Not too long ago I heard the phrase “humanizing the experience” and as I have been dealing a lot with tailings management systems, it made me wonder how one might humanize tailings management, as complex as it is. My hope is that with this article, I’ve at least put it in a context that most people might begin to appreciate and understand.

With recent occurrences of very significant failures, tailings management is a topic that has recently risen to the forefront for mining operators around the world. Are we doing enough to manage the risks associated with tailings, or are there things we could be looking at more closely?

Three things have always stood out when I’ve reflected on the success of a project or change initiative, or the speed at which it advanced. It seems that when these 3 things are present, not only does work advance much quicker, but greater outcomes are the result.

I find it interesting, then, to hear when other people have similar observations, not just in work, but also in life.

Modern projects of all kinds face innumerable challenges due to increasing scale, complexity, and stakeholder numbers. Failure rates, particularly for industrial and construction projects, have been on the order of 50-70% due to missed milestones, cost overruns, poor quality and dissatisfied customers or high-influencing stakeholders.

If we are a little more proactive, with early engagement with stakeholders, application of Lean processes, and the integration of Sustainability aspects, we can avoid many of these issues.

Over a month ago, CIM held it's annual national conference titled "Thinking Differently."

Of course, everyone takes different things away from events like these, and they say "you only hear what you want to hear, only see what you came for." I suspect that is very true for most people, although for me, I do try to come with as open a mind as I can.

That said, I really was keen on listening for what might be "different!" Have we really broken those invisible barriers to change, to really take on and implement new ideas?

Here are my reflections on the event…

Do we really need so many studies to tell us why change is so difficult?  If we just take a minute to think about our past, and observe human interactions, there are clear reasons, and also things we can do about it...

Let’s Start with This...

In situations where there may be significant differences in perceived risks, and particularly when we are dealing with a number of stakeholders, we really need to take the time to understand one another's views.

What impacts our perceptions? And how can we come to see eye to eye?

Everyone views waste as a cost centre. We move rock out of the way to get the good stuff. The shiny metals, the high-value gemstones, the money makers.

But what if we've had it wrong all this time and we just haven't been seeing the full potential held within the volumes of rock that we move?

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of my undergraduate degree in geological engineering, as well as my whole-hearted dive into the mining world. I’ve watched many fantastic ideas, methodologies and technologies come forth, often to be squashed and put back on a shelf, and it's time that this stops!! 

I’ve decided that it’s time to go big or go home, to start shouting about the possibilities, to start connecting the right collaborators and helping with finding the right solutions for big risk and sustainability-related opportunities.

Will you be a supporter?

Highlighting the benefits of the PMI Global conference. This was a great event to attend for learning about many different strategies for projects, soft skills development, networking, and getting a little individual support. 

#PMIcon17

How do we get more buy in to actually turning tailings wastes into a product?

Is there more opportunity to create products out of those things or have them used as some other sources of reclamation materials to stabilize other sites.

How do we encourage more collaboration on that front?

Read this article, based on sessions of the Mines and Technology conference held in Toronto, October 2-4, 2017, where a panel had a dialogue around this question. 

How can we move forward to embrace new technologies, and the piloting of the many technologies already available, which can both recover value from, and reduce the risks of tailings management?

Read this article, based on sessions of the Mines and Technology conference held in Toronto, October 2-4, 2017, where a panel had a dialogue around this question. 

Tailings. One of those parts of the mining business that everyone loves to hate. 

External stakeholders see them as large, ugly ponds of toxic sludge, fearing their presence, fighting against their development. Not in my backyard. 

And to the mining business, tailings make up a significant cost - unfortunately being something that no conventional mine has ever been able to eliminate.

So what can be done about it? Are there alternatives?

Companies have long been approaching motivation and engagement of employees in the wrong way. Research over the past 60 years has not only proven this, but it has also shown better ways to naturally engage and motivate people. 

Are you creating a space where your team can flourish, flow and grow?