The mining {industry} continues to face strain to enhance tailings storage facility (TSF) administration following a number of high-profile failures lately. Recognising the necessity for a contemporary, proactive method, OceanaGold’s Waihi operation in New Zealand partnered with Seequent to pilot, develop and validate an modern, digitally-connected workflow that raises the usual for TSF security, compliance, and collaboration.
Conventional TSF administration strategies are sometimes reactive and fragmented, relying closely on handbook observations and disconnected datasets. To beat these challenges, OceanaGold and Seequent labored collectively to construct a real-time 3D mannequin of the TSF that updates repeatedly as new knowledge turns into accessible. Powered by Seequent’s Leapfrog, GeoStudio, and Central options, this built-in mannequin permits a totally built-in workflow for monitoring, modelling, and evaluation.
The answer consolidates geotechnical, geological, and instrumentation knowledge right into a single platform, offering a shared supply of reality for each website engineers and exterior stakeholders. This enhances operational visibility and improves decision-making – significantly necessary in Waihi’s context, the place seismic dangers and heavy rainfall demand strong threat administration.
This initiative was developed in response to a number of site-specific and industry-wide challenges. OceanaGold’s geotechnical staff wanted an answer that might unify disparate knowledge sources, assist rigorous evaluation, and clearly show compliance with requirements just like the World Trade Normal on Tailings Administration (GISTM). By implementing the 3D mannequin, they not solely streamlined their inner processes but additionally created a clear, auditable system for reporting to regulators and unbiased reviewers.
A key factor of the Waihi pilot system was the mixing of Bentley’s iTwin IoT platform, which permits real-time monitoring and automatic reporting in a cloud-based atmosphere. This connects on-site sensors on to the 3D mannequin, permitting engineers to trace circumstances like core strain or groundwater ranges after rainfall or seismic occasions. By combining 3D modelling with stay knowledge, iTwin IoT transforms the mannequin into an interactive decision-support software – including transparency, model management, and audit-ready metadata throughout all phases of tailings governance.
Central to the system is a monitor > mannequin > analyse workflow. Actual-time knowledge from piezometers, inclinometers, and rainfall gauges feeds into the mannequin. When thresholds are exceeded, automated updates to slope stability calculations are triggered. This enables engineers to reply quickly, with confidence backed by knowledge.
Geological modelling utilizing Leapfrog Geo and GeoStudio was key to validating the TSF’s design. Engineers simulated seepage circumstances and carried out issue of security calculations underneath numerous loading situations. These fashions had been linked to monitoring knowledge, making a suggestions loop that enhances predictive capabilities and helps long-term planning.
“The success of this initiative reveals how real-time digital instruments can rework the way in which we handle tailings,” mentioned Pieter Neethling, Seequent technical lead on the mission. “By integrating knowledge, workflows and folks, we’re serving to mining operators make higher choices – sooner, and with better transparency.”
Seequent says the Waihi case examine demonstrates the real-world worth of digital innovation in tailings administration. “With off-the-shelf instruments and a collaborative method, OceanaGold and Seequent have created a best-practice framework that prioritises security, transparency, and effectivity. Importantly, this initiative underscores how 3D fashions can shift TSF oversight from a reactive to a proactive self-discipline.”
It provides: “Because the mining {industry} continues to face growing scrutiny round tailings administration, sensible, data-led approaches provide a transparent path ahead. By combining established geotechnical ideas with fashionable digital instruments and collaborative workflows, Seequent and OceanaGold are demonstrating how TSF oversight can turn into extra clear, responsive, and resilient.”
