Tailing Dam Failures are a serious environmental and human safety issue that can have devastating consequences. When a tailing dam fails, it can release a large amount of toxic waste and chemicals into the surrounding environment, contaminating nearby waterways and land.
The risks associated with tailing dams depend on a variety of factors, including the design and construction of the dam, the type of tailings being stored, the local climate and weather patterns, and the level of maintenance and monitoring.
It is important for mining companies and governments to take steps to prevent tailing dam failures, including implementing strict safety regulations, regularly monitoring, and maintaining tailing dams, and investing in new technologies and practices that reduce the risk of failure.
In addition, it is important for communities and stakeholders to be aware of the risks associated with tailing dams and to advocate for strong safety measures and regulations to protect the environment and public health.
Although unfortunate events of tailing dam failures are quite common in mining practice there are no known engineering simulation decision support systems specially designed for what-if scenario types of analysis
The TDF Analyzer suggests variant analysis for possible disastrous scenarios and provides critically important mechanisms for defining optimal or at least acceptable solutions in a difficult breakthrough situation where time matters, and wrong decision may cost human lives, environmental risks and hundreds of million of dollars due to following long-term liabilities and further requests for area recultivation.
The TDF Analyzer is an extension to the advanced client / server on-prem or cloud-deployed digital transformation platform Mine AdvisorTM. The system is equipped with powerful 3D/4D visualization engine enhanced by augmented and mixed reality technology and includes financial / economical assessment instruments. No special hydrological, mathematical, or physical background is required from the user.
The data model is based on a topographic model of terrain where a tailing dam is located, hydrogeological model and a scheme of neighbour outlets, on landscaping data and engineering data about a dam itself. Data model compilation mostly happens during data import (terrain and CAD data) from 3rd-party systems or external sources. The TDF Analyzer suggests user-friendly UI for setting up alternative scenarios of failure. The simulation system implements unique original slurry spreading algorithms.
Traditionally that kind of solutions are being developed in the universities or R&D scientific organizations. They rarely reach level of industrial quality and are not accessible for decision makers in situations where their availability is critical and indispensable.
No industrial analogues are known.
The TDF Analyzer is also applicable for analyzing disastrous situations for dam failure at electrical power stations and similar infrastructural disasters.