Tailings Dam Dust: GISTM Compliance & Erosion Control

Tailings Dam Dust and GISTM Compliance: Managing Wind Erosion and Surface Stability Across the Facility Lifecycle

On 25 January 2019, the Brumadinho tailings dam in Brazil collapsed, killing 270 people and releasing 12 million cubic metres of tailings into the Paraopeba River. The disaster prompted the development of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) — launched in August 2020 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). The GISTM sets 15 principles and 77 requirements with the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment from tailings facilities.

By August 2025, all ICMM member companies were required to achieve conformance across all tailings storage facilities (TSFs) not in a state of safe closure. The Global Tailings Management Institute (GTMI) now provides independent certification and oversight. Financial institutions and investors are voluntarily adopting GISTM as a due diligence benchmark, meaning that even non-ICMM mines face indirect pressure to conform to maintain access to project finance and insurance.

The GISTM addresses structural integrity, governance, monitoring, community engagement and environmental management. Within this framework, dust from tailings facilities is a conformance issue that is often underestimated. Barrick Gold’s GISTM disclosures state explicitly that dust control measures are particularly important for facilities in arid environments, where wind erosion can transport potentially harmful particulates to surrounding communities. Research presented to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials found that the slopes of tailings dams — not just the top surfaces — are the true major dust source, overturning a common misconception that has led to misdirected treatment investment.

This article covers where tailings dust originates, why it is a GISTM conformance issue, and the engineering controls that manage dust and erosion across the full lifecycle of the tailings facility — from active deposition through inactive care-and-maintenance to closure and post-closure.

Where Tailings Dust Comes From: The Slopes Are the Problem, Not Just the Surface

The ASDSO research paper on wind erosion of tailings dams identifies a critical misconception: because clouds of dust are observed across the top surfaces of tailings dams in dry windy weather, operators assume the dust originates from the top surface. In reality, the outer slopes of the dam are the true major source of wind-eroded material. The result is that much effort and money is spent treating the top of tailings dams while the slopes — the actual dust generators — remain untreated.

A tailings facility has multiple distinct dust source zones, each with different characteristics:

Tailings facility dust sources by zone

The implication is that effective tailings dust management must treat the slopes as the primary target — not just the top surface. A facility that invests exclusively in surface wetting or crusting on the top while leaving the outer slopes exposed is addressing the secondary source and ignoring the primary one.

GISTM Conformance: Where Dust Control Fits Within the 15 Principles

The GISTM does not include a standalone principle specifically titled ‘dust control.’ Instead, dust management obligations are embedded within multiple principles that collectively require the operator to prevent harm to communities and the environment from every aspect of the tailings facility’s operation, closure and post-closure.

Principle 2: Integrate social, environmental, local economic and technical considerations. Dust from a tailings facility that affects a neighbouring community is a social and environmental impact. Effective closure plans must incorporate specialised cover systems, vegetation strategies or moisture maintenance approaches — all of which address dust. Barrick’s GISTM disclosures highlight dust control as a key element of this integration.

Principle 5: Develop and maintain a knowledge base. The operator must understand the dust generation characteristics of the tailings material — particle size distribution, moisture retention, wind erosion thresholds — and how these change over the facility’s lifecycle as the tailings consolidate, dry and age. This knowledge informs the dust management strategy.

Principle 6: Plan and design the tailings facility. The design of the facility must consider wind erosion as a design input for the outer slopes, the cover system and the closure landform. The design of the final landform geometry, slope angles and surface treatment directly determines the long-term dust performance of the closed facility.

Principle 10: Respond to changing conditions. Dust conditions change as the facility progresses from active deposition to inactive to closure. The dust management strategy must evolve accordingly. A facility in active deposition may rely on wet tailings to suppress dust; the same facility in care-and-maintenance with a dry beach requires a completely different approach.

Principle 12: Manage the tailings facility through all stages. Operation, monitoring, closure and post-closure all require dust management. The GISTM requires that the facility is managed safely and responsibly through every stage — not just during production.

Principle 15: Minimise risk during closure and post-closure. Effective closure plans must ensure that the closed facility does not generate dust that harms communities or the environment. This requires a permanent cover system, vegetation establishment or other surface treatment that provides long-term erosion resistance without ongoing maintenance.

Dust Control by Lifecycle Stage: Active, Inactive and Closure

Active Operation: Managing Dust While the Facility Is in Use

During active deposition, the wet beach near the discharge points is largely self-suppressing — the saturated surface does not generate wind-borne dust. But the dry beach further from the spigots, the outer slopes, and the crest roads are all active dust sources. As deposition advances around the perimeter in a cyclic pattern, previously wetted areas dry and become dust-prone between deposition cycles.

Outer slopes: GRT: Enviro-Binder applied to the outer batters creates a waterproof, erosion-resistant surface that prevents wind erosion while supporting vegetation establishment. The polymer penetrates the tailings surface and binds the fine particles — exactly the fraction that becomes airborne. Applied by spray cannon from the toe or crest, no workers are required on the slope face.

Dry beach: GRT: Soil-Loc provides broadscale wind erosion protection for large dry beach areas between deposition cycles. A single application protects the surface for months, preventing dust generation from the extensive flat areas that are exposed as the deposition pattern rotates.

Crest roads and access tracks: GRT: Haul-Loc via SMART Dosing Units reduces traffic-generated dust from inspection and maintenance vehicles. GRT7000 stabilisation creates permanent dust-free access roads on the crest and perimeter that serve for the life of the facility.

Decant water: GRT: CC and Floc Blocs for clarification of supernatant water before discharge or recirculation, ensuring that water management does not create secondary environmental compliance issues.

Inactive and Care-and-Maintenance: The Dust Challenge Intensifies

When deposition ceases and a tailings facility enters care-and-maintenance, the dust challenge intensifies rather than diminishes. The wet tailings that provided natural dust suppression during active deposition dry progressively. The entire top surface becomes a dry beach. The moisture that maintained cohesion between fine particles evaporates. And the facility transitions from a partially self-suppressing asset to a fully exposed, fine-grained dust source covering tens or hundreds of hectares.

This transition stage — between active operation and final closure — is where many facilities experience their worst dust problems. The operational dust controls (wet deposition, active water management) have ceased. The closure dust controls (permanent cover systems, vegetation) have not yet been implemented. The facility is fully exposed, drying and generating dust with every wind event.

Enviro-Binder and Soil-Loc provide the interim protection that bridges this gap. Applied to the drying surface as deposition ceases, they create a durable crust that prevents wind erosion for months to years — buying time for the closure design to be finalised, the cover system to be constructed and the revegetation programme to be implemented.

Closure and Post-Closure: Permanent Dust Control for Decades

GISTM Principle 15 requires that the closed facility does not generate harm. For dust, this means the final landform must be stable against wind erosion without ongoing active management — the post-closure monitoring period may extend for decades, and the operator must demonstrate that the surface will not generate unacceptable dust levels under foreseeable weather conditions.

The closure approach typically involves one or a combination of engineered cover system (soil, rock or geosynthetic layer placed over the tailings surface to physically separate the tailings from wind), revegetation (establishing a self-sustaining vegetative cover that provides permanent erosion resistance), and moisture maintenance (maintaining the tailings surface in a saturated state — only feasible where water is permanently available).

Enviro-Binder’s role in closure is to support the revegetation pathway. Applied over the cover system or directly over tailings that can support vegetation, the polymer protects the surface from erosion during the 6–24 month vegetation establishment period, maintains soil moisture for germination, and allows root penetration through the polymer matrix. Once vegetation reaches self-sustaining cover density (typically 70–80%), the root system provides the permanent erosion control that the GISTM requires for post-closure performance. The polymer bridges the gap between the unvegetated closed surface and the self-sustaining vegetated landform.

Monitoring and Reporting: Demonstrating Conformance

GISTM conformance requires operators to demonstrate that their tailings facilities are managed safely through documented evidence. For dust management, this includes:

Dust monitoring. Ambient PM10 and PM2.5 monitoring at the facility boundary nearest to sensitive receptors. TEOM, BAM or HVAS instruments positioned in accordance with AS/NZS 3580.1.1. Results compared against NEPM criteria and site-specific EA conditions. An upwind background station to distinguish facility-generated dust from regional sources. Article 37 covers dust monitoring programme design.

Erosion monitoring. Visual inspection and photographic documentation of slope surfaces, cover system integrity and vegetation establishment at defined intervals. Erosion rills, gullies, surface cracking and bare patches must be documented and addressed. SMART Dosing telemetry provides an auditable record of product application events that demonstrates consistent dust management activity.

Community engagement. GISTM Principle 4 requires meaningful engagement with affected communities throughout the facility lifecycle. A dust complaint from a neighbouring community about a tailings facility is a GISTM conformance issue, not just an environmental management issue. The complaints register, investigation records and corrective actions must demonstrate that dust impacts are taken seriously and addressed promptly.

GISTM disclosure. ICMM member companies publish annual GISTM conformance disclosures. These disclosures are publicly available and subject to independent review. Dust management practices, monitoring results and community feedback are reportable elements within these disclosures. The disclosures from companies like Barrick, Teck, Gold Fields and BHP provide benchmarks against which other operators’ performance is assessed by investors, regulators and communities.

GRT Product Suite for Tailings Facility Dust and Erosion Control

Tailings facility: product-to-zone mapping

Zero Harm Includes Zero Dust Harm

The GISTM’s ultimate goal is zero harm to people and the environment from tailings facilities. Dust that transports potentially harmful particulates from a tailings dam to a neighbouring community is harm. Wind erosion that degrades the structural surface of a closed tailings landform is harm. Sediment discharge from an eroding tailings slope into a waterway is harm. Every one of these outcomes is preventable through engineering controls that are proven, available and deployable at every stage of the facility’s lifecycle.

The critical insight is that the slopes — not just the top surface — are the primary dust source. A GISTM-conformant dust management programme must treat the outer slopes as the priority, using surface binding products that prevent wind erosion while supporting the revegetation that provides permanent, self-sustaining dust control for post-closure.

GRT: Enviro-Binder for slope erosion control and revegetation support. GRT: Soil-Loc for broadscale surface treatment on dry beach areas. GRT: Haul-Loc and GRT7000 for crest roads and access. GRT: DamSealer for embankment seepage control. And the monitoring and telemetry infrastructure that provides the auditable evidence GISTM conformance demands.

For tailings engineers, RTFEs, Accountable Executives and GISTM conformance leads responsible for demonstrating that their tailings facilities achieve zero harm, dust management is not an afterthought to structural integrity. It is an integral part of the conformance framework that affects communities, triggers regulatory scrutiny and determines whether the facility meets the standard that the post-Brumadinho world requires.

Sources and References

ICMM: Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management — 15 principles, 77 requirements, August 2025 conformance deadline

GTMI: GISTM Implementation Documents — conformance, assurance, independent certification

GISTM.net: Understanding the GISTM: A Complete Overview — Brumadinho context, 15 principles, UNEP/PRI/ICMM, financial institution adoption

Discovery Alert / Barrick Gold: Barrick Publishes GISTM Disclosures (August 2025) — dust control measures particularly important in arid environments, Safe Closure program

Barr Engineering: Navigating the Expanding Landscape of Mine Tailings Standards — GISTM, ICOLD TB194, MAC TSM alignment, GTMI role

ASDSO: Wind Erosion of Tailings Dams and Mitigation of the Dust Nuisance — slopes as true major dust source, not top surface

ACG / van Wyk et al.: Wind Erosion Design Considerations for Closure of Tailings Facilities — RWEQ methodology, slope geometry, annual soil loss modelling

GRT: GRT: Enviro-Binder — erosion control and revegetation support

GRT: Dust Suppression Solutions — Soil-Loc

GRT: GRT: DamSealer — dam embankment seepage control

GRT: GRT: Haul-Loc

GRT: GRT7000

GRT: SMART Dosing Units

GRT: Sediment Control Solutions — CC, Liquid-Floc, Floc Blocs

GRT: Dust Monitoring Programme Setup Guide