Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management

The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management strives to achieve the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment with zero tolerance for human fatality. It requires Operators to take responsibility and prioritise the safety of tailings facilities, through all phases of a facility’s lifecycle, including closure and post-closure. It also requires the disclosure of relevant information to support public accountability.

- GLOBAL INDUSTRY STANDARD ON TAILINGS MANAGEMENT

In August 2020, the first global standard for tailings management, the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), was launched jointly by the ICMM, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Principles for Responsible Investment. GISTM sets a new global benchmark to achieve strong social, environmental, and technical outcomes in tailings management, with a strong emphasis on accountability and disclosure.

GISTM aims to prevent catastrophic dam failure by strengthening current practices in the mining industry through the integration of social, environmental, and technical considerations.

GISTM provides a framework for safe Tailings Facility Management while Operators have the flexibility as to how best to achieve this goal.

In order to achieve compliance, Operators must apply specific methods to prevent catastrophic failure of tailings facilities, as well as best practices in planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, monitoring, closure, and post-closure operations.

  • Principal 1:
    Respect the rights of project-affected people and meaningfully engage them at all phases of the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure.

  • Principal 2:
    Develop and maintain an interdisciplinary knowledge base to support safe tailings management throughout the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure.

    Principal 3:
    Use all elements of the knowledge base - social, environmental, local economic and technical - to inform decisions throughout the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure.

  • Principal 4:
    Develop plans and design criteria for the tailings facility to minimise risk for all phases of its lifecycle, including closure and post-closure.

    Principal 5:
    Develop a robust design that integrates the knowledge .
    Base and minimises the risk of failure to people and the environment for all phases of the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure and post-closure.

    Principal 6:
    Plan, build and operate the tailings facility to manage risk at all phases of the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure and post-closure.

    Principal 7:
    Design, implement and operate monitoring systems to manage risk at all phases of the facility lifecycle, including closure.

  • Principal 8:
    Establish policies, systems and accountabilities to support the safety and integrity of the tailings facility.

    Principal 9:
    Appoint and empower an engineer of record.

    Principal 10:
    Establish and implement levels of review as part of a strong quality and risk management system for all phases of the tailings facility lifecycle, including closure.

    Principal 11:
    Develop an organisational culture that promotes learning, communication and early problem recognition.

    Principal 12:
    Establish a process for reporting and addressing concerns and implement whistleblower protections.

  • Principal 13:
    Prepare for emergency response to tailings facility failures.

    Principal 14:
    Prepare for long-term recovery in the event of catastrophic failure.

  • Principal 15:
    Publicly disclose and provide access to information about the tailings facility to support public accountability.

Tailings Insights can assist you achieve compliance by guiding you through the GISTM 6 topic areas, 15 principles and 77 auditable requirements, as well as multi-jurisdictional Compliance.

Resouces:
The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management is available to download here: