The Hydraulic Transport and Storage of Extractive Waste Guidelines to European Practice

This book offers the guidelines on long-term confinement of fine particulate waste products in a safe and environmentally acceptable location. It seeks to present the state of the art, drawing on combined experience from within the European Union (EU), on good international practice where relevant and on lessons learnt from recent untoward incidents. These guidelines have been developed in parallel with the development of the European Standard on Earthworks (prEN 16907) and the contents have been influenced by the well-publicised need for guidance to all stakeholders on both technical and regulatory aspects of the permitting, design and construction of extractive waste facilities in Europe. The Extractive Waste Directive (EWD) imposes a duty on all operators and regulators to ensure the competent design, operation and closure of such facilities. However, though some guidance has been published on a limited number of related technical elements, the relevance of these contributions has been diminished by the lack of an integrated approach. It is now evident to both regulatory bodies and operators alike that a unified and comprehensive document providing guidance to all stakeholders is required if the future of mining within the EU is to be assured and further untoward incidents avoided. These guidelines seek to address all technical stages of the development of a hydraulic fill project in the context of the EWD, with an emphasis on waste and facility characterisation and on the risk-based assessments which underwrite them. They are intended for use by all stakeholders involved in those European industries which involve the generation, transport and storage of fine particulate waste products requiring long-term confinement in a safe, stable and environmentally acceptable location.

Introduction.- Hydraulic fill - sources, placement and regulatory issues.- Material characterisation.- Engineering design.- The development of a Mine Waste Facility.- Facility quality control, inspection and monitoring.- Specialist application of hydraulic filling techniques.- Conclusions.

Mike Cambridge graduated with an honours degree in civil engineering from the University of Surrey in 1970 and has been engaged in the planning, design, construction, monitoring and closure stages of extractive waste facilities throughout the world for more than forty-five years.  In 2002 he founded Cantab Consulting Ltd, an independent mining and environmental consultancy established to provide specialist services to the minerals and water industries internationally.  He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Geological Society and of the Institute of Quarrying and holds current appointments as an All Reservoir Panel Engineer under the UK Reservoirs Act and as Competent Person under the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969.  He has been actively engaged in Europe in the development of the Extractive Waste Directive and subsequent guidance documents, and is the Convener of the CENTC396 “Earthworks” working group currently preparing the European Standard on hydraulic fill.  In addition, he has authored numerous papers on technical and environmental aspects of mining, quarrying, dam engineering and waste disposal.  He is currently retained as the independent inspecting engineer for both statutory and compliance purposes for the inspection, auditing and reporting on mining projects and tailings management facilities in particular, with respect to safety, stability and environmental compliance.