Authors: Mrunmay Junagade¹, Jess Walker¹, Sudhir Tripathi¹, Jordan Scheremeta¹, Jeffrey Coffin¹, Paul Ridlen¹
Conference: Tailings and Mine Waste 2025
Date: November 2-5, 2025

¹ Knight Piésold Consulting, Denver, Colorado, USA

ABSTRACT

Tailings Management Facility (TMF) dams on mine sites are typically stage raised throughout the course of mining. This process begins with the construction of a starter dam, followed by later-stage raising using either downstream, centreline, or upstream construction, or a combination of these methods. Throughout the course of construction, deformations are expected to occur in the existing embankment due to the development of deviatoric and shear stresses from construction loading, which are a function of the shear and bulk modulus of the embankment fills. Mines often monitor these deformations with inclinometers and surface monuments installed on and through the crest and downstream embankment fills. The reasonableness of the resulting deformations is often evaluated based on experience and engineering judgment. In this study, a method is discussed for evaluating the reasonableness of inclinometer deformations during TMF raise construction, using a finite-difference numerical modelling approach. Stiffness parameters used in the numerical models are initially established using a laboratory-based approach, and these parameters are then compared with calibrated parameters based on historical deformation data at each of two TMF case studies. The calibrated models can then be used to assess the reasonableness of the existing deformations within TMF embankments and to predict expected deformations during future stage-raising.

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