Tailings Fundamentals
The material left over after the extraction of valuable minerals from ore.
What are tailings?
The three main types of tailings dam construction methods.
What are upstream, downstream, and centerline?
A sensor that measures subsurface water pressure.
What is a piezometer?
This famous mobster oversaw the construction and opening of the Flamingo Hotel in 1946, generally considered the start of the modern Las Vegas Strip.
Who was Bugsy Siegel?
This type of risk assessment uses numerical probabilities.
What is quantitative risk assessment?
The typical consistency of tailings slurry when deposited.
What is a mix of water and fine solids?
This analysis helps determine dam stability under static and seismic conditions.
What is slope stability analysis?
Satellite-based technique for detecting surface deformation.
What is InSAR?
This official state animal, found in the high mountains of Nevada, is known for its large, curved horns.
What is the Desert Bighorn Sheep?
One of the most catastrophic tailings failures in recent history (2019).
What is Brumadinho, Brazil?
A common method for tailings transport.
What is hydraulic (pipeline) transport?
The portion of the tailings facility that controls seepage.
What is the underdrain or liner system?
Instrument that measures movement along a potential failure plane.
What is an inclinometer?
This remote area in Southern Nevada was the site of 100 atmospheric nuclear tests and over 900 underground tests between 1951 and 1992.
What is the Nevada Test Site (or Nevada National Security Site)?
Failure mode caused by seepage and piping.
What is internal erosion?
This factor determines whether tailings will segregate during deposition.
What is particle size?
The stage of mine life when tailings facility design begins.
What is the planning or prefeasibility stage?
Data from this type of monitoring helps detect pore pressure buildup.
What is a piezometer?
This two-word name is given to the section of U.S. Route 50 that crosses Nevada, known for its long, desolate stretches.
What is the Loneliest Road in America?
Analytical method used to trace potential failure scenarios.
What is Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)?
This structure retains tailings and can be raised over time.
What is a tailings dam or embankment?
The minimum static factor of safety target commonly used in tailings dam design.
What is 1.3 to 1.5?
These systems integrate multiple instruments for real-time alerts.
What are remote or automated monitoring systems?
Nevada gained statehood in 1864, rushing the process largely to ensure its votes would help re-elect this Civil War President.
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
Term for when soil behaves like a liquid during an earthquake.
What is liquefaction?