The Tailings Center

Mine wastes include tailings and waste rock. Mine tailings are the waste solid residuum after separation of valuable minerals from economically worthless minerals (gangue). After extraction and beneficiation, the residuals from mineral recovery are normally discharged as a hydraulic fill (aka slurry) composed of finely ground gangue (sub-micrometer to sand-sized particles), chemicals, and process water into a TSF impoundment where solids slowly consolidate, releasing water much of which is returned to the processing circuits. Although termed tailings ‘storage’ facilities, these facilities are not temporary, and cannot be discarded at the end of useful mine life. Thus, the aim of a TSF is to ensure that deposited materials achieve and maintain both physical and chemical stability in the long-term. Closure of TSFs requires ensuring acceptably low risks to communities and the environment for hundreds or thousands of years. There are at least 15,000 active and inactive TSFs globally.

In order to meet the needs of the industry and provide engineers specially trained to design and manage the engineered disposal of tailings, it is the Center’s goal to provide courses and workshops, both in person and online, that the industry requires to raise the skill sets of new engineers. The Center provides a nexus for the advancement and dissemination of the best practices and industry bench-marking. The Center also operates recruiting and outreach programs for the public and for undergraduate and graduate students, illuminating the challenges and opportunities in mine waste management.

The Tailings Center is responsive to the needs of the mining industry and facilitates focused research projects which address those needs and provide solutions that are able to be implemented in the industry.  Collaborative research is conducted across the Tailings Center partner universities.

The Tailings Center offers professional development Fundamentals of Tailings Management certificate of completion through short courses. 

Center universities offer a Tailings Engineering graduate certificate for individuals interested in scholarship and research on topics including, but not limited to, geology, geotechnical engineering, water, soil mechanics, tailing valorization, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, environmental engineering, and social governance.

Sustainable mining and industry expansion are fundamental to global technology and sustainability initiatives (e.g. efforts to decrease our reliance of fossil fuels require large quantities of new material for solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars).  TSF failures have dramatically increased the demand for specialized tailings engineers and there is a substantial shortfall between identified needs and available engineers and knowledge.

The Tailings Center is developed as a fee-based membership of industry partners, with the member fees supplemented with additional funding to support research and educational projects. The first activities will be to (i) develop and offer key online and in-person workshops and professional development opportunities, and (ii) engage all industry sectors (including mining companies, consultants and service providers, regulators, and the public) in research agenda-making. The research and educational agendae will be driven by the needs of the industry. The Center will leverage existing courses and develop new courses to provide certificate, MS and PhD academic training, allowing students to select specific courses (on campus or online) from any of the partner universities to advance their skills, experience and training in tailings engineering.

2025 marks the 5-year anniversary of The Tailings Center

The Tailings Center held an Industry Advisory Board meeting on February 27, 2025. Over 50 different companies, including operators, consultants and specialist vendors, heard the Tailings Center announce a new foundation funding model for 2025/2026 partners and plans for the upcoming academic year.  

Structure. Effective July 1, 2025, the Director of the Tailings Center is Terry Braun, President of SRK North America and former Industry Advisory Board (IAB) Chair to the Center. He is responsible for engagement with industry partners, external communications and coordination with the Site Director(s) at each Member school. The Director and the Mines Site Director are supported by the Mining Engineering Department and based on the Mines campus.  

Tailings Day. On April 4, 2025, the Tailings Center hosted an Industry Meet & Greet at Mines. The event commenced with an Industry Panel Discussion, followed by a networking event with panelists and other industry representatives. 

Continuing Education. The inaugural “Master the Life-Cycle Management of Tailings Facilities” in-person short course was a success. Held on the Mines campus the first week of June, the four-day course and field tour of the Freeport-McMoRan Henderson Mill and Tailings had 23 participants from a diverse range of backgrounds, including consulting, the mining industry, academia, and suppliers, with experience levels ranging from new hires to seasoned professionals. The Tailings Center will continue to offer the in-person short-course and will re-launch the on-line version as soon as the Fall of 2025. 

Fundamentals of Tailings Curriculum. The Tailings Center collaborates with our member institutions in support of undergraduate and graduate class curriculum. This collaboration includes development of case studies with detailed technical data designed for real-world applications of tailings fundamentals. We also provide subject matter experts as guest lecturers to augment the presentation of theory and practice of tailings engineering.  

Research. Our fall research consortium will be held on the Colorado State University campus on October 7, 2025. This one-day meeting includes graduate students and faculty and potentially interested partner-professionals and presentation of tailings-related research findings from the past year. 

Effective Tailings Management – an Urgent Need for Technology
Dr. Priscilla Nelson at the Department of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of Mines explores big ideas that can help manage tailings better.

Catastrophic Failures Raise Alarm About Dams Containing Muddy Mine Wastes
Basins filled with leftover sludge from mining can grow to half the size of Manhattan. Historically, dams containing tailings have failed at more than 100 times the rate of water-holding dams. In just the past decade, failures have killed hundreds and contaminated ecosystems with toxic mud. many failures have common culprits.

The Tailings Center is a fee-based membership of industry partners with the member fees leveraged with additional funding to support research and educational projects.  The research is driven by the needs of the industry.