O Trade launches solution for social risk of tailings management

O Trade and Enviro Integration Strategies have jointly launched their new Tailings Area of Social Risk (TASR) solution. The method looks to align tailings management with principles of social inclusion and participation, while respecting the scientific process to define the areas of risk.

TASR measures the effectiveness of tailings management based on two key standards: The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and The Tailings Management Protocol, Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) by the Mining Association of Canada.

Moreover, TASR complies with the United Nations’ Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

TASR is a solution that is used to determine scientific estimates of the scope of potentially affected areas, planning for emergency preparedness and response, livelihood restoration, and professional engagement.

The solution is aimed at assisting mining companies in mitigating social and operational risk, working towards trust building relationships with stakeholders by demonstrating accountability and responsibility. Furthermore, clear definitions of TASR pose several benefits in risk management for mining companies. Improvements to community engagement, risk assessment, decision-making in feasibility studies, insurance coverage, and finance can be expected.

“The social impacts of mine wastes, and flowable tailings material, can bring vulnerability for mines, regions, and communities, translating directly into risk for all stakeholders involved,” Monica Ospina, founder and director at O Trade, stated. “Tailings area of social risk (TASR) is a solution that combines geo-environmental and social science, providing an easily implementable answer for each mining operation in industry.”

Karen Chovan, founder and CEO of Enviro Integration Strategies, added that “working with the outputs of TASR can facilitate not only the external engagement processes, but also provides valuable information to inform decision-making on options analyses, justifies more robust controls and risk mitigations, and enhances emergency planning details. Using information from TASR is directly impactful on reducing the potential likeliness, and impacts, of failure.”

O Trade and Enviro have worked collaboratively in defining a scientific process that determines potential areas of social risk and allows professional engagement of stakeholders who could be directly impacted.

Companies that apply the TASR process could be better positioned to identify and mitigate risks, so that they can be more effective in incident prevention, as well as avoiding and managing the crisis and conflicts associated with mining waste failures.

If you miss the webinar on Oct 20 at 2 pm EST (https://lnkd.in/g7M6cP3m), you can also visit O Trade’s websiteor contact monica@otrade.ca and kchovan@envirointegration.com.