Decisions on tailings alternatives must survive regulators, review boards, and time itself. Data Riders structured a defensible multi-criteria analysis (MCA) flow for tailings storage alternatives, connecting risk, cost, environment, community and long-term planning.
Six steps of the MCA flow
- Baseline and projections — define current state and production horizons.
- Alternative identification and pre-screening — long-list and first filter.
- Alternative characterization — technical, environmental, social and financial attributes.
- Multi-criteria definition and indicators — criteria, weights and measurable indicators.
- Multi-criteria decision — scoring, ranking and sensitivity analysis.
- Documentation and validation — traceable rationale for internal and external review.
Technical references
- Global best-practice guides for tailings management.
- GISTM compliance protocols.
- ICMM-referenced tailings management standards.
- Tailings Reduction Roadmap.
Integration with the master geotechnical plan
Long-term planning
Alternatives tied to life-of-mine and production scenarios.
Sensitivity & risk
Stress-test rankings against assumptions and scenarios.
Defensible documentation
Traceable rationale for regulators and review boards.
Documented value
- More traceable, technically defensible decision path for tailings alternatives.
- Clear articulation of trade-offs between risk, cost, environment and community.
- Stronger basis for executive and regulator dialogue.
Related reads, cases and services
- Case: 3D mine layout and autonomous vehicles simulation
- Case: Corporate geotechnical governance redesign
- Case: GISTM.ai tailings compliance platform
- Service: Technical Services
- Service: Consulting
- Blog: Life of Mine and GISTM
Editorial note. This case is intentionally conservative. It reflects only the six-step MCA flow and technical references (GISTM, ICMM, Tailings Reduction Roadmap) directly supported by internal Data Riders material. Client-approved outcomes, screenshots and quotes may be added in future updates.