Remote sensing supported surveillance of

tailings dams and impoundments: A case

study of a Finnish paste tailings impoundment
Anssi Rauhala, Anne Tuomela, Pekka M. Rossi
Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland, anssi.rauhala@oulu.fi

Corine Davids
Norut – Northern Research Institute, Norway
 Background
‒ Mining produces vast amounts of tailings, i.e., fine-grained waste
material generated during mineral extraction.
‒ The generated tailings are typically deposited into an impoundment
within the mining site.
‒ Tailings have been typically deposited as a slurry with high water
content, but dewatering of tailings in order to promote steeper
deposition slopes has gained popularity.
‒ However, fairly little research is available on the effects of cold climate
on dewatered, thickened tailings.
‒ Steeper deposition angles and cold climate with seasonal freeze-thaw
effects can lead to for example stability issues.
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 Background
‒ We had an opportunity to perform
measurements at the Laiva mine
site and tailings impoundment
where production has been on halt
since 2014.
‒ The aim was to increase our
knowledge on tailings behavior at
a cold climate and simultaneously
explore the applicability of
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) to impoundment-scale
monitoring.

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 Field and laboratory measurements
‒ Field and laboratory testing was performed to
characterize in situ conditions and tailings
properties
‒ In situ: temperature loggers, frost depth pipes.
‒ Laboratory: particle-size analysis, soil suction
tests, frost heave tests, rheometry.

‒ Both field and laboratory testing has produced

wealth of information which gives general
knowledge on the situation and can be utilized
for example in modelling.

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 Laboratory measurements
Clay Silt Sand Gravel
‒ Particle size analysis
indicated that the
tailings consist of
sandy clayey silt.

Percent passing
‒ Particle size
distribution also
indicated that the
material is frost
susceptible.

Fig: Hietala (2017)

Grainsize (mm)
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 Laboratory measurements
‒ Frost heave measurements were
performed simultaneously for two
samples (with and without excess
water source below the sample to
simulate ground water conditions).
‒ The material was confirmed as
moderately/highly frost
susceptible.
‒ Frost heave ratio for the ”wet”
sample was 0.2 after 48 hours
(sample height increase from 10 cm
to 12 cm)

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 Field measurements
‒ Temperature loggers (every 20 cm down to
2 meters) and frost pipes have been utilized
to measure the depth of the frozen layer.
‒ The measurements provide validation data for
one-dimensional geothermal simulations
performed with a model developed by
Knutsson et al. (2017) at the LTU
‒ Mentioned laboratory measurements and
local weather data are used as input data.
‒ The model simulates the geothermal regime
in tailings with a possibility to include tailings
deposition (tailings height with time).

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 Geothermal modelling
‒ The model seems to predict the depth of
the frozen layer well.
‒ It has some simplifications and
uncertainties such as snow depth.
‒ The model can give information on the
thermal regime and the associated
freeze-thaw phenomena.
‒ It is possible to run the model in cyclic
fashion in order to determine whether the
frozen layer has time to melt and if
permafrost pockets are likely to form.
‒ In the absence of deposition of tailings, the frozen layer certainly melts, but during active
disposal the model can aid management of deposition to avoid formation of permafrost.

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 CFD modelling
‒ CFD (computational fluid dynamics)
modelling started by Timo Kulju and
continued by Reeta Tolononen.
‒ The idea has been to model processes that
occur during the filling of impoundment and
to achieve a tool for management of
tailings storage facilities.
‒ Laboratory measurements provide material
parameters and UAV data can be used for
calibration and validation.

Tailings velocity profile during deposition.

‒ There has been several problems due to
computational difficulties
- The area is large and thus computationally expensive.
- CFD seems to be more suitable for the simulation of
situations where the time steps are quite short, not years.
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 UAV measurements
‒ Fixed-wing UAVs and Structure
from Motion technique were utilized
to produce orthophotos and digital
elevation models (DEMs).
‒ Surveys were performed during
summers 2015, 2016, and 2017 to
assess if UAVs are suitable for monitoring tailings settlement.
‒ The utilized equipment changed for each summer, so two surveys were
performed during 2017 in order to assess the accuracy and
reproducibility of the method.
- 2015 and 2016 surveys operated by Norut
- 2017 June/August surveys operated by Maailmasta Oy (subcontracted by Mitta Oy)
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 Structure from Motion

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 Structure from Motion

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 Structure from Motion
‒ For example, during the
June 2017 campaign,
894 images were taken.
‒ Black dots highlight the
camera/plane location
during the acquisition.
‒ Colors highlight the
number of images
covering each portion of
the images.

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 Structure from Motion

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 Structure from Motion
‒ For example, during the
June 2017 campaign, 20
Ground Control Points
were installed on the
ground and their
coordinates were
measured with accurate
RTK GNSS.
‒ Colors and shapes of
the points highlight the
distance between the
input GCPs and their
location estimated from
the images.
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 Structure from Motion

Model produced with

Agisoft Photoscan:

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 Surveys
‒ Orthomosaics:
- 2015: 10 cm/pix
- 2016: 5 cm/pix
- 2017: 2 cm/pix

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 Surveys
‒ Orthophotos
- 2015: 10 cm/pix
- 2016: 5 cm/pix
- 2017: 2 cm/pix
‒ Digital elevation models
- 2015: 20 cm/pix
- 2016: 10 cm/pix
- 2017: 5 cm/pix

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 Surveys
‒ 114 RTK GPS
checkpoints were
collected on the road
surrounding the
impoundment to
provide ground truth
data.
‒ Can be used to
estimate data quality.

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 Results:
‒ DEM elevation compared to the collected GPS checkpoints

2015 2016 2017/06 2017/08

Flight altitude (m) 300 120 150 150

Camera pixels (Mpix) 12 16 42 42

Ground resolution (cm/pix) 20 10 5 5

Mean average error (cm) 8.5 6.5 2.6 3.1

Standard deviation (cm) 11.3 9.0 3.4 3.8

1st quartile (cm) -6.0 -6.2 -1.6 -2.5

Median (cm) 0.8 -1.3 0.6 0.7
3rd quartile (cm) 6.2 3.3 2.4 2.9
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 Results:
‒ Digital elevation models
allow to track changes
between different years.
‒ Can generate tailings
subsidence maps.
‒ Comparably stable service
roads surrounding the
impoundment provide
baseline for accuracy
assessment.

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 Results: Subsidence 2015 - 2017
Distribution of Point to Point
distances in Z-direction:
Stable ground (road):

Tailings surface:

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 Results: Practical accuracy limits
Distribution of Point to Point
distances in Z-direction:
Stable ground (road):

Tailings surface:

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 Conclusions
‒ Wealth of laboratory and field data has been produced and it is
currently utilized in modelling.
‒ The accuracy and resolution of UAV-produced DEMs is more than
sufficient for volume and slope calculations, and other similar
impoundment management operations.
‒ The method is sufficient to track displacements larger than ~10-20 cm,
but it is too inaccurate for dam monitoring, and its use is further
limited in snow and water-covered surfaces.
- Camera and ground control network quality has siqnificant impact on the accuracy.
- Enhancing the ground resolution even further (e.g., lowering the flight altitude) could
allow measurement of smaller displacements, the cost being more laborous field
work and more computationally expensive processing.
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THANK YOU!