ABSTRACT
Currently, as environmental laws become stricter, it should be mentioned that the mining industry generates a large volume of solid and liquid waste, which may be used to form dams to hold the waste it-self, and that this usage needs adequate control as there are individual, assets and environmental safety issues to be addressed. Considering these circumstances, this article introduces the major features of tailing dams and building techniques, as well as waste deposition at the dam and reservoir. The article also discusses the major geotechnical features of the waste so that these dams display superior performance and safety levels, to avoid and/or reducing accidents that may cause irreversible environmental damages as well as interruptions of the mining production operations. Subsequent evaluations of major causes of accidents at tailing dams are performed to correlate them to geological and geotechnical factors obtained from a universe of statistically selected data. Finally, most frequent triggering causes of accidents (liquefaction and piping) are technically analyzed and possible solutions are proposed.
