Operaciones Seguras

A tailings management facility (TMF) is a structure built for the purposes of storing the uneconomic ore generated in the mine processing plant after the milling and flotation process.

Since its inception, Atalaya has held safety as one of its top priorities. Even before legislation was in place, the Riotinto tailings dam was designed with safety factors above current standards. No structural incident has ever occurred in the dams.

Tailings Facility Inventory

The below table provides detail about the tailings facility managed by Atalaya.

The construction methodology used in the tailings facility is based on rock material dam, which complies with the attainment of high safety factors according to international standards.

Best Practice

Atalaya is undertaking an innovative digital transition to geotechnical and geodetic control of the Riotinto TMF that can be applied to other structures. The aim is to create a multidisciplinary monitoring and interpretation platform that will integrate classical monitoring techniques with innovative satellite, passive seismic and artificial intelligence techniques in real time. The project is divided into three phases:

1. Research: Study of the potential of three innovative monitoring techniques for stability control in mining environments:
   • INSAR: radar interferometry using the Sentinel-1 satellite of the Copernicus programme (CE-ESA).
   • Passive seismic: induced seismicity and ambient noise interferometry (ANI).
   • AI surveillance: analysis of video images in real time.
2. Development: Calibration and validation of results using other classical techniques and field experience.
3. Innovation: Integration of multidisciplinary results in a single platform at end-user level; results, graphs, maps and reports in an easily interpretable format and a multidisciplinary platform of early warning systems.