TAILINGS POND AS A WASTE TREATMENT SYSTEM.

The most common form of waste treatment system employed by the base metal mining industry is an impoundment, commonly referred to as a tailings pond, into which the mill process and other waste streams are discharged. Solid wastes are settled for perpetual storage behind a dam and the ponded area formed above these is used to treat the aqueous decant. The apparent simplicity of this system coupled with the familiarity with which it is regarded by the industry often mask the large number of engineering and waste management considerations which must be applied to their design and operation. Several recent references discuss in detail the structural aspects of tailings dams and it is the purpose of this paper to complement these by presenting some of the waste management considerations which should be included in the planning, design and operation of tailings systems.