Rapid development of China’s economy demands for more mineral resources. At the same time, a vast quantity of mine tailings, as the waste byproduct of mining and mineral processing, is being produced in huge proportions. Tailings impoundments play an important role in the practical surface disposal of these large quantities of mining waste. Historically, tailings were relatively small in quantity and had no commercial value, thus little attention was paid to their disposal. The tailings were preferably discharged near the mines and few tailings storage facilities were constructed in mainland China. This situation has significantly changed since 2000, because the Chinese economy is growing rapidly and Chinese regulations and legislation require that tailings disposal systems must be ready before the mining operation begins. Consequently, data up to 2008 shows that more than 12 000 tailings storage facilities have been built in China. This paper reviews the history of tailings disposal in China, discusses three cases of tailings dam failures and explores failure mechanisms, and the procedures commonly used in China for planning, design, construction and management of tailings impoundments. This paper also discusses the current situation, shortcomings and key weaknesses, as well as future development trends for tailings storage facilities in China.

New mining technologies not only exploit lower-grade ores but also produce a much higher volume of tailings as mining waste. The disposal of these tailings is a challenge for mine operators. A tailings dam is usually constructed to store these wastes safely. The dam continuously increases its height and changes geometry with the disposal of tailings, which is different from conventional dams. Therefore the stability of tailings dams is a challenge. Geosynthetics have been widely used as reinforcement in retaining walls and embankments, but their applicability to the construction of tailings dams has not previously been studied. Their applicability depends largely on the interaction between geosynthetics and fine tailings. In this paper, the interaction of geosynthetics (geobelt and geogrid) with fine copper ore tailings is studied through laboratory pullout tests. The test results reveal that the interaction characteristics are influenced by tailings particle size, density, moisture content, and vertical load. It is found that the maximum friction coefficient between geosynthetics and the fine tailings is less than 0.22, which is lower than the published data for natural soils.