“Trends toward increasingly dewatered tailings for tailings storage and disposal are leveling up to Global Industry Standards”

The University of the Philippines Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering (UP DMMME) proudly announces the third installment of its Monthly Lecture Series on Tailings Storage Facilities.

The series opened in September with “Management of tailings: Employing best available processing technologies and safe storage in tailings facilities – environmental effects,” where Prof. Emmanuel U. Pornillos, DOST Balik Scientist, emphasized that facility failures often arise from inadequate design, insufficient monitoring, and weak understanding of material behavior. He urged the adoption of best available technologies to achieve safety and sustainability in tailings management.

Building on these foundations, the October session, “From Fundamentals to Strategies: Understanding Tailings Properties for Safe Disposal and Storage,” explored the physical, geotechnical, and chemical characteristics that define tailings behavior from slurry consistency to filtered and dry-stacked tailings. Prof. Pornillos underscored that no two tailings are the same and that effective management depends on understanding each site’s mineralogy, rheology, and geochemistry. The lecture also discussed the role of water management, liner systems, and post-closure monitoring, while challenging the audience to pursue a Philippine Tailings Laboratory for research and innovation aligned with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).

Building on these insights, the third lecture will shift focus to the industry’s accelerating move toward thickened, paste, and filtered tailings – the most dewatered forms now considered best practice and their alignment with Global Industry Standards for safety, water recovery, and environmental stewardship. Participants will learn how these technologies improve stability, reduce footprint, and advance progressive rehabilitation across diverse climatic and geological settings.

🗂 Lecture Title:
“Trends toward increasingly dewatered tailings for tailings storage and disposal are leveling up to Global Industry Standards”
📅 Date: November 24, 2025 (Monday) ̶N̶o̶v̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶1̶0̶,̶ ̶2̶0̶2̶5̶
🕘 Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 NN
📍 Venue: FLUOR Lecture Room, 2/F DMMME Building, University of the Philippines Diliman
💻 Hybrid Event: Simultaneously via Zoom

The session is open to students, engineers, industry practitioners, regulators, and researchers seeking to deepen their technical, environmental, and regulatory understanding for a safer, globally aligned mining industry.

🔗 Registration Link: https://bit.ly/DMMME-TailingsStorage-Lecture3

UP DMMME invites colleagues from academe, government, industry, and civil society to continue this dialogue and help shape the country’s path toward safer, science-based tailings management.

Source: UP Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering Facebook