Tailings Storage Facilities Smart Monitoring: Environmental and Risk Assessment Towards Digitalisation

Securing mine sites is a challenging task due to the complexity of the infrastructure, the variety of physical and digital components, the distribution of assets and machineries, and the large number of stakeholders involved. Given the risks that are present in Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs), mine operators are seeking technologies to accurately monitor the state of their dams. The latest developments implement evolutive monitoring and responsive risk management systems by adapting accurate Internet of Things technologies, automated mathematical model calculation to continually monitor the structural/geotechnical aspects of TSF, and a portfolio of innovative applications to support decision-making. Within this study, a comprehensive methodology is developed for assessing the environmental sustainability of a smart monitoring solution combining the life cycle assessment (LCA) method with the environmental risk assessment, which quantifies risk reduction potential. The use case scenario is identified based on real industrial data, also aligned with the common characteristics of tailing dams in Europe. Environmental sustainability of the smart monitoring solution is assessed through a cradle-to-grave LCA based on the ReCiPe 2016 (v1.1 Midpoint (H)) method. Monitoring impact alone is reduced primarily by the 40% reduction in monitoring visits, while the results show the environmental improvement of the TSF life cycle by 24% for CO₂-eq., as a step in-line with the EU’s long-term strategy for total decarbonisation in 2050, and Sustainable Development Goal 9 for Industry by the United Nations. Additionally, the 27% freshwater ecotoxicity reduction, 20% human toxicity (cancer) decrease, and the rest of the studied categories indicate an overall footprint improvement for the monitoring solution application on TSFs. The findings demonstrate clearly theoretical, practical and policy implications, not only for the benefit of such solutions for environmental protection, but also for the necessity of integrating risk in sustainability analysis approaches.