From initial design to post-closure activities, incorporating resilience at every stage of a tailing’s storage facility’s lifecycle, including tailings, water, and environmental management, has become essential for addressing environmental, technical, economic, and social challenges. Each phase of the mining cycle — design, operation, closure, and post-closure — requires the application of robust technical solutions and monitoring systems that consider risks associated with climate change, geotechnical and hydrological conditions, as well as evolving regulatory requirements. Resilience integration is a continuous effort throughout the life of a mine, ensuring that the mining project itself has positive societal impacts. 

This course provides a technical approach to resilience integration in tailings, water, and environmental management, focusing on tools and analytical methods such as numerical modeling, structure stability assessments, and adaptive design solutions. You will explore how the latest advancements in technology and data management can help strengthen the resilience of tailings facilities and optimize restoration and post-closure plans. 

Using case studies and lessons learned from recent mining projects, this course offers an overview of best technical practices while emphasizing the importance of going beyond minimum regulatory requirements. You will have the opportunity to interact with technical experts, share your own experiences, and engage in discussions on innovative solutions that ensure the long-term sustainability and resilience of mining projects. 

This course is designed for those looking to enhance their technical skills while integrating a comprehensive perspective on resilience and sustainable tailings management, including exchanges with experts from various technical and environmental fields. 

Presenter Descriptions: 

• Fannie Lessard (P.Eng., M.Sc.A.) is a geological engineer specializing in environmental and mine reclamation at AtkinsRéalis since 2019. She has extensive expertise in mine closure, covering all stages from selecting reclamation concepts to the construction phase. Her skills have been applied in large, often complex projects in Canada and internationally. Her responsibilities have included selecting and designing closure concepts, risk assessment, developing closure strategies, planning work, constructing experimental cells, providing technical support for closure activities, and dam breach analysis. 

• Anh-Long Nguyen (P.Eng., M.Sc.A.) is a water management and treatment engineer at AtkinsRéalis, where he has worked since 2006. He applies his expertise to mining project development, from design through commissioning and operational monitoring. His areas of expertise include developing water management plans, water balance and quality modeling, and designing treatment processes for mining effluents. 

• Diane Zreik (P.Eng., M.S., Ph.D.) is a geotechnical engineer at AtkinsRéalis with over 25 years of experience across various types of projects, including the design of tailings facilities, earth dams, and landfills. She has deep expertise in the behavior of clay soils and mine tailings. Diane has served as a technical advisor, manager, consultant, and geotechnical expert for various companies and has worked on projects in Canada, the United States, and the Middle East. She has also taught numerous university courses in geotechnics and geo-environmental engineering.