Workshops

On the day prior to the start of the conference, Wednesday 10 November, we will be running two full day workshops concurrently, one with a tailings dams focus and the other with a water dams focus, the details of which are shown below.

Workshop registration includes attendance at all sessions of the nominated workshop, as well as day catering. It does not include tickets to any social functions.

 

Wednesday Nov 10, 2021 | 0900 – 1700

With new tailings management and design bulletins, guidelines and standards being produced and implemented around the world, mainly the Global Tailings Standard, it is expected that all stakeholders involved with the management, operation and design of tailings storage facilities will be impacted in carrying out their role in some way.

With this in mind, this years’ pre-conference workshop aims to allow attendees to:

• Receive updates on planned guidelines and standards and understand the impacts of these changes to the industry, specifically in the Australian context
• Understand how organisations are evolving their management and operation standards and the implementation of standards to align with the various upcoming guidelines and standards
• Understand developments in the industry’s understanding of tailings and how this understanding should be implemented as best-practice for the design, management and operation of storage facilities
• Provide a forum to discuss and ask questions with other attendees and presenters
• Provide feedback to ANCOLD and the wider tailings community on their thoughts and to capture any potential actions that ANCOLD can drive as a professional body

The workshop will be split into three sessions, focussing on tailings management (expected speakers include tailings management representatives from Rio Tinto, BHP and Alcoa), tailings research (expected speakers include David Reid from UWA and Nasser Khalili from UNSW) and tailings regulation (expected speakers include representatives from WA, Queensland and NSW regulators).

In addition, an update on the ANCOLD tailings working group and planned updates to the ANCOLD tailings will be presented.

REGULATION WORKSHOP

Wednesday Nov 10, 2021 | 0830 – 1200

Although there are many areas of common agreement and practice across Australia there are also significant matters where individual approaches vary State by State.

This workshop will provide a forum for regulators and practitioners to share the unique perspectives and different dam safety challenges faced across Australia.  Attendees will leave with a better appreciation of current practices and policies, why various States depart from or agree with ANCOLD guidelines and the merits of and challenges with aligning approaches.

The session will comprise a panel discussion between the regulators and participation from the floor on a selection of topics, including: differences in estimating acceptable flood capacity, approaches to dam safety management including inspection and monitoring frequencies, compiling comprehensive surveillance reviews, managing low consequence categories dams, approaches to conducting risk assessments and prioritising dams in a portfolio, flood inundation mapping and assessment of consequences and consequence categories.

 

ANCOLD GUIDELINES ON RISK ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP

Wednesday Nov 10, 2021 | 1300 – 1700

This half day workshop will present an overview of the much anticipated new ANCOLD Guidelines on Risk Assessment.

Key updates from the 2003 guidelines will be outlined along with an interactive panel session between the authors to discuss these updates. This will be followed by technical sessions by authors of these new guidelines to present the current Australian state of practice for conducting risk assessments.

Topics to be covered include; the engineering inputs required for conducting risk assessments for embankment dams (with some focus on internal erosion, liquefaction and seismic evaluations) and evaluating the stability of gravity dams, the challenges associated with evaluating arch dams, gravity arch, and gravity dams reliant on rock buttressing, and the mechanics and judgement required in assessing the mechanisms of spillway failure. Updates on the 2008 Piping Toolbox and developments in the understanding of the mechanics associated internal erosion will be presented, followed by a session on life loss estimation methods.