How has the demand for KCB’s services evolved over the last year?

Surprisingly, 2021 was KCB’s best year ever. Despite the challenges of working remotely and trying to coordinate site visits and field work with travel restrictions, demand for our services increased. I attribute this to the fact that there is significantly more attention placed on tailings safety today than compared to past years. Today, with the requirements of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, many companies are requesting services from firms like KCB, multinationals with extensive tailings management and design experience.

Could you highlight some of the key projects KCB has worked on recently in the region?

KCB does many site selection studies. These tend to be confidential, but we have done high profile, large 500 million-to-1-billion-ton tailings storage capacity selection studies both in Peru and in neighboring countries. With the challenging political climate in Peru over the last year, many investment dollars have gone to Ecuador, so we have been quite busy there. We are still working on expansions at Las Bambas and are doing some work for Buenaventura and at Antamina. We are also in Guyana with Gran Colombia Gold, and still at Fruta del Norte and Curipamba in Ecuador.

How does KCB leverage its global network and expertise from different offices? 

KCB is a relatively small company compared to the giant consultancies in the market. We have different specialists in our various offices and if we need, for example, a specific seismic hazard assessment model or a complex 3D run out model, we will involve that expertise in our projects. We have great collaboration throughout our global network and have been working together on projects for years.

How has tailings management evolved in the Peruvian mining industry?

There is a greater focus on tailings management and companies are looking at it from a more holistic perspective, beyond just the engineering and design. Companies used to want one large tailings facility for the life of mine without considering the consequence classification, but this outlook has now changed. Aside from the advancements in tailings technology, other alternatives, like dry stack and co-disposal, are evaluated in trade-off studies, and  facilities with a lower consequence classifications, thus with less risk, are now preferred. We have done pilot studies for Vale in Brazil for large output dry stack and are looking at different options to get away from conventional slurry tailings. We are also increasingly helping mining companies adhere to ICMM standards and incorporate ESG value as part of each project.

Can you explain how ESG standards are affecting tailings design and management? 

ESG plays an important part in tailings management. In mining in general, people are increasingly looking at sustainability and the protection of the environment.  This implies designing for closure, minimizing environmental impact, and looking at the future land use and how that integrates into the local community. ESG today is at the forefront of mining projects and is considered even at the pre-design stage. Again, this highlights the importance of taking a holistic approach.

How is KCB taking into account climate change in tailings projects?   

There are projects where potential glacier impacts and increased runoff as a result from climate change have to be considered. This is, however, nothing that we were not already doing, and surface water management and make up water have always been part of our designs. The reduction of our project carbon footprint during tailing storage facility construction is also something that we have taken into consideration as part of our design. I believe that these services will be increasingly requested in the future.

Could you highlight key trends in tailings dams monitoring?

The adoption of automation technologies has been a major trend lately. With autonomous and automatic instruments and surveying, including video surveillance, with data uploaded automatically to the cloud, information is available in real time, and anything outside of design tolerances can fire alarms. In addition, we are doing a project in Brazil with remote equipment.

How do you see tailings management evolving in the coming years and what are some of the main challenges that you think the industry will face moving forward? 

Tailings technology will keep evolving, moving away from conventional slurry tailings. I have seen studies where tailings are converted into building materials, for example, and there could be great potential in that. Also, reprocessing old tailings deposits in unsafe conditions can help convert those high risk structures to lower risk structures.

In terms of challenges, attracting and retaining a talented workforce has been difficult for the last few years, as the pipeline of new engineers is not sufficient to meet the demand. The industry needs to get more civil engineering students prepared for the mining industry. There are also some regional political challenges affecting both investment and capital outflow. Finally, climate change is another major challenge.