November 28, 2016

“Tailings Stewardship - Adding Value to Due Diligence”

Matt Fuller, CPG; Tierra Group International, Ltd. Jim Shultz; Tierra Group International, Ltd.

ABSTRACT: acquiring new properties to increase production is a strategy for growing your mining business and, not unlike buying a used car, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). It is leadership's responsibility to protect assets, reduce liabilities and mitigate or eliminate operating risks through pre-acquisition due diligence (DD). Knowing what stand in the way of sustaining or expanding exiting production of a new asset must be determined to realize full value of an acquisition. Every year somewhere in our mining world there is the potential for a tailings storage facility (TSF) failure. Recent tailings dam failures in British Columbia and Brazil have resulted in catastrophic impacts to the environment, mining company balance sheets, income statements, and market capitalization, as well as civil and criminal penalties both direct and punitive, against responsible parties. Existing TSFs are critical to mine production sustainability and, tailing stewardship is a role that has taken on new meaning and depth of scope in the pre-acquisition DD process. 

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