It is with pleasure that I present, on behalf of the members of The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), A Guide to Audit and Assessment of Tailings Facility Management. The Guide complements our companion publications on tailings management:
- A Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities, updated in 2011; and
- Developing an Operation, Maintenance and Surveillance Manual for Tailings and Water
Management Facilities, 2003.
The tailings management series is integral to MAC’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, and forms the basis for the tailings management performance indicators under TSM.
This Guide is, as with the others in the series, the result of collaboration by members of a team of Canadian mining industry practitioners and experts on the MAC Tailings Working Group (TWG). We owe a debt of gratitude to the team members for the skill, expertise, dedication and enthusiasm that they brought to the task of building consensus in dealing with such complex subject matter. We also acknowledge the efforts of the many individuals and companies that have implemented comprehensive tailings management systems–across Canada and around the world–since the original management guide was published in 1998. This Guide builds upon many years of experience gained in implementing the tailings management framework, as well as the knowledge and expertise of audit and assessment practitioners in the field.
The Guide has been designed to meet the needs of the mining industry. It encourages and provides a means of measuring safe and environmentally responsible management of tailings facilities. I trust that the industry and others will find it a useful contribution to continual improvement in this area.
