Properties of Mine Tailings for Static Liquefaction Assessment

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Static liquefaction has been associated with numerous recent failures of tailings storage facilities (TSFs) around the globe (e.g., the 2019 failure of Dam I at the Corrego de Feijao mine in Brumadinho). These failures lead to devastating consequences for the environment and civil infrastructure as well as the loss of human lives. This webinar will discuss trends for the mechanical response of mine tailings considering a broad range of states, particle size distributions, and compressibility. The aforementioned trends are evaluated in the context of static liquefaction using critical state soil mechanics concepts, focusing on key aspects such as the shear strength variation (residual and peak), state and brittleness indexes, and dilatancy. In particular, it is highlighted that mine tailings mechanical properties reflect both the properties of the particles themselves and the relative proportions of different particle sizes. Finally, the webinar will also discuss the challenges in assessing static liquefaction at the TSF scale and how mine tailings properties are incorporated in the process.

Learning objectives

Present static liquefaction as just another manifestation of the response of particulate materials.

Understand how mine tailings are characterized for liquefaction assessment purposes.

Present the state of practice and challenges of assessing static liquefaction on mine tailings.

The participants will learn:

How mine tailings are characterized under the critical state soil mechanics framework.

How mine tailings mechanical properties affect their response.

The challenges on assessing static liquefaction at the TSF scale.

Jorge Macedo, Ph.D., P.E.

Georgia Institute of Technology, chair of the TAILENG center

Jorge Macedo is an Associate Professor and Frederick L. Olmsted Early-Career Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on mining geotechnics, extreme events, earthquakes, and AI-driven, physics-informed performance assessment. He also serves as an industry subject-matter expert and as a technical-review-board member for major mining projects.