Erosional Stability of Tailings Storage Facilities in an Arid Climate

As part of a research project investigating tailings storage facilities (TSFs) in the arid climate of the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, erosion gullies in the outer slopes of TSFs and a natural slope analogue have been monitored for 3 years using high-resolution, digital, stereo-photography. The more pronounced erosion gullies were observed in the outer slopes of disused tailings storage facilities that had been capped to shed runoff, leading to overtopping of the wall at low points. More minor erosion was also observed on topsoil-covered outer slopes, resulting from rainfall incident only on the slope itself. Rock-covered outer slopes and the natural slope analogue appeared to have undergone negligible erosion gullying over the monitoring period.