As we experience and respond to the global pandemic, I truly believe that we are in the midst of some unique, significant learning and growth opportunities. This article is about some of the lessons we can learn from the responses to this pandemic, and how we might use these insights to make some changes in the mining industry, specifically focused around our waste management practices.
I am tired of hearing about the regularity of tailings dam failures, and distraught over the growing severity of consequences of the failures of late. In my opinion, it isn’t acceptable to continue creating such high levels of risk. As operators, we shouldn’t have to be creating and managing massive risk management programs, nor practicing massive emergency and evacuation protocols, for materials that we produce. We have control of what we create, to a large degree, if not entirely. And we have the power, and information, to make better decisions. So let’s see how we might do so.
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