CDA online technical presentation July 15

The Canadian Dam Association (CDA) is pleased to offer a free online technical presentation on July 15 at 12 p.m. PDT (3 p.m. EDT). The presentation will be delivered in English and hosted by the British Columbia and Territories Directors. All CDA members and other interested non-members are welcome to register.

Technical Presentation
Greenhills Operations Tailings Storage Facility Performance Monitoring – A Case Study

Presenters
David Walker, EIT – Teck Coal Ltd. Greenhills Operations
Martyn Willan, M.Sc., P.Eng. – Golder Associates Ltd.

This presentation will provide an overview of the systems and procedures in place at the Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) at Teck’s Greenhills Operations (GHO) steelmaking coal mine, located in the Elk Valley, BC. The presentation will cover the use of a remote, live, monitoring and reporting system, including online data hosting, use of drone flights and surveys to supplement visual inspections.

Date/Time
Wednesday, July 15 @ 12 p.m. PDT

Cost
Free

Register
Register for this webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4770076574091038733

ABSTRACT: A well defined and executed performance surveillance program is a key component of a dam safety management system of tailings storage facilities (TSF), as described in CDA (2019) and MAC (2017) and ICOLD (2017). As described in MAC (2019) the purpose of a surveillance program is to inform decision making and verify performance objectives and risk management objectives, including critical controls are being met. As such, a successful surveillance programme needs to extend beyond the collection of data (i.e. conducting visual inspections or collecting instrumentation data) and include a system for timely documentation, analysis and communication of the data.

Such a system requires input from multiple people/organization (instrumentation technicians, instrumentation manufactures, data hosting/software companies, site engineering staff and external consultants) who are often geographically remote to the site and each other. Challenges therefore exist in bringing together those required to ensure the success of the surveillance program, challenges which have increased as a result of the current global COVID-19 pandemic, as discussed in the 21 April 2020 communique from CDA.

This presentation will provide an overview of the systems and procedures in place at the TSF at Teck’s Greenhills Operations (GHO) steelmaking coal mine, located in the Elk Valley, BC. The presentation will cover the use of a remote, live, monitoring and reporting system, including online data hosting, use of drone flights and surveys to supplement visual inspections by field staff, as well procedures for the reporting and review of monitoring data against performance objectives, development of action plans to address any identified gaps or areas for improvement, and the use of monitoring data in ongoing risk informed decision making for the facility. The presentation will be delivered by the Teck Tailings Engineer (Dave Walker) and the Deputy Engineer of Record (Martyn Willan, Golder Associates Ltd.) for the facility, with the support and guidance of the Engineer of Record (Andy Haynes, Golder Associates Ltd.)