3
– Corporate leadership (board and executive level).
– Checks and balances on decision-making.
– Assignment of authority and accountability to
make decisions.
Importance of Good Governance
Tailings facilities are complicated structures that exist and
are managed within complex environments and systems. To
manage tailings responsibly, companies must get both the
engineering and the governance right. Equally, standards
for tailings management need to address both technical and
governance aspects if they are to be effective. Focusing on
engineering alone is not adequate.
Governance is about how decisions related to tailings
management are made at all levels in the organization –
it goes far beyond the corporate boardroom and involves
everyone with roles and responsibilities related to tailings
management. That said, good governance requires strong
leadership to help ensure that the imperative of respon-
sible tailings management is recognized throughout the
company and not just by those involved in tailings man-
agement, and to help ensure that the objectives of tailings
management are not compromised.
Good governance requires a comprehensive, system-
atic approach to tailings management that integrates and
coordinates the activities, plans, resources, processes, and
practices related to tailings management to improve per-
formance, reduce risk, and drive continual improvement
(Küpper et al 2020, Dumaresq 2021). The Plan-Do-Check-
Act cycle of a management systems approach provides an
effective tool to achieve this while helping to manage peo-
ple and the ways in which they interact, communicate, and
make decisions regarding tailings.
OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS FOR TAILINGS
MANAGEMENT
Overview of Towards Sustainable Mining® (TSM)
TSM is an international standard for responsible mining.
Originally developed by MAC and launched in 2004, the
objective of TSM is to enable mining companies to meet
society’s needs for minerals, metals, and energy products
in the most socially and environmentally responsible way.
In addition to MAC, TSM has been adopted by industry
associations in Quebec within Canada, and internation-
ally in Finland, Argentina, Botswana, the Philippines,
Brazil, Norway, Australia, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama,
Mexico, and Mongolia. Implementation of TSM is a con-
dition of membership for members of each association
that has adopted TSM and there are more than 250 com-
panies implementing TSM worldwide. The TSM standard
Figure 1. Illustration of the many influences on tailings management and the ability to achieve the objective of minimizing
harm, including technical, physical, and environmental influences, as well as social, economic, and corporate influences. This
figure has been developed by MAC but does not currently appear in any MAC publications
– Corporate leadership (board and executive level).
– Checks and balances on decision-making.
– Assignment of authority and accountability to
make decisions.
Importance of Good Governance
Tailings facilities are complicated structures that exist and
are managed within complex environments and systems. To
manage tailings responsibly, companies must get both the
engineering and the governance right. Equally, standards
for tailings management need to address both technical and
governance aspects if they are to be effective. Focusing on
engineering alone is not adequate.
Governance is about how decisions related to tailings
management are made at all levels in the organization –
it goes far beyond the corporate boardroom and involves
everyone with roles and responsibilities related to tailings
management. That said, good governance requires strong
leadership to help ensure that the imperative of respon-
sible tailings management is recognized throughout the
company and not just by those involved in tailings man-
agement, and to help ensure that the objectives of tailings
management are not compromised.
Good governance requires a comprehensive, system-
atic approach to tailings management that integrates and
coordinates the activities, plans, resources, processes, and
practices related to tailings management to improve per-
formance, reduce risk, and drive continual improvement
(Küpper et al 2020, Dumaresq 2021). The Plan-Do-Check-
Act cycle of a management systems approach provides an
effective tool to achieve this while helping to manage peo-
ple and the ways in which they interact, communicate, and
make decisions regarding tailings.
OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS FOR TAILINGS
MANAGEMENT
Overview of Towards Sustainable Mining® (TSM)
TSM is an international standard for responsible mining.
Originally developed by MAC and launched in 2004, the
objective of TSM is to enable mining companies to meet
society’s needs for minerals, metals, and energy products
in the most socially and environmentally responsible way.
In addition to MAC, TSM has been adopted by industry
associations in Quebec within Canada, and internation-
ally in Finland, Argentina, Botswana, the Philippines,
Brazil, Norway, Australia, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama,
Mexico, and Mongolia. Implementation of TSM is a con-
dition of membership for members of each association
that has adopted TSM and there are more than 250 com-
panies implementing TSM worldwide. The TSM standard
Figure 1. Illustration of the many influences on tailings management and the ability to achieve the objective of minimizing
harm, including technical, physical, and environmental influences, as well as social, economic, and corporate influences. This
figure has been developed by MAC but does not currently appear in any MAC publications