Superiority of Filtered Tailings Storage Facility to Conventional Tailings Impoundment in Southern Rainy Regions of China

In order to evaluate the superiority of a filtered tailings storage facility (FTSF) to conventional tailings impoundment in the southern rainy regions of China (SRRC), the tailings slurry leakage and pollution accident occurring at the wet tailings dam (WTD) of Yinshan were analyzed, the properties of the tailings were tested in a laboratory, and the possibility of tailings liquefaction was evaluated. Comparisons of the slope stabilities of the filtered tailings dam (FTD) and WTD in normal operation, flood, continuous rainfall, and earthquake situations were simulated using the Slide software. The results show that the FTD has less chance of seepage, lower failure probability, and limited potential destructiveness than the WTD with average slope safety factors of 2.120 for normal operation, 1.919 for flooding, 1.204 for continuous rainfall, and 1.724 for a magnitude-6.0 earthquake. The disaster chain model of the WTD of Yinshan belongs to the bursting and slippage chain. As the most safe and effective active prevention measure, the FTSF has the advantages of saving water, protecting the environment, improving its stability in flood and rainfall situations, and reducing the dam failure probability and potential losses, which is greatly applicable to the SRRC.