Addressing water and tailings management in a changing world: an integrated approach applied to the Chilean context

Speaker: Dr Doug Aitken, SMI-ICE Chile

Abstract: The world is experiencing rapidly evolving social and environmental changes that are impacting many areas of mine operation management and contributing to an uncertain future for the industry. This is particularly the case for water resources and tailings management. One of the world’s most affected mining zones is Central Chile, where climate change, increased resource demand and changing societal expectations are leading to a growing number of challenges for the industry.

Over the past year, researchers from SMI-ICE-Chile, CWIMI, CMLR and CSRM have worked together with the Water and Tailings Management Team of Codelco’s El Teniente Division to construct possible future scenarios, identify and analyse the associated risks and opportunities, and develop a roadmap to support a transition to their vision of greater operational sustainability and resilience. This webinar will involve a presentation of the project background, the framework that was developed by the team and the results.

Bio: Doug is the Sustainability Project Leader at SMI's International Centre of Excellence in Chile (SMI-ICE Chile). He completed his PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. His works on engineering planning and design experience focus on implementing sustainability. Doug has worked in industry and academia, in the development of projects on water management, bioenergy generation and sustainability analysis.