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InSAR Monitoring at the Cerro Corona TSF

University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering; Tailings and Mine Waste Conference (2023 : Vancouver, B.C.)

Gold Fields La Cima S.A. (GFLC) owns and operates the Cerro Corona gold and copper mine in the Cajamarca district of Peru. The Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) includes a centreline constructed zoned rockfill dam with an ultimate height of 163 meters. The surveillance program for the dam includes Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) monitoring, which has been incorporated into the project’s Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP). The approach used to assess TARP compliance has evolved with time to incorporate the performance objectives defined for the TSF Dam and adjacent structures, and incorporate filtering methods to mitigate pixel noise while maintaining the ability to identify areas with variations in deformation behaviour. InSAR and satellite monitoring have also proven beneficial in evaluating historical dam performance and operational monitoring. Additionally, the surveillance program at the mine was expanded to include satellite imagery to monitor the TSF pond area and location and subaerial tailings beach lengths, which are then compared with operational objectives and TARP requirements. A key component of successfully implementing InSAR and satellite monitoring in this project was frequent communication between the InSAR service provider, the EOR, and the mine owner. This resulted in the EOR and mine owner gaining an increased understanding of InSAR technology and monitoring results, and the provider gained better understanding of how the data is used at the site. Through this coordination, the monitoring approach and delivery of results have evolved with time to better meet the project’s needs. InSAR is now an integral part of the dam safety management system at the project. This paper reviews the approach used to incorporate InSAR monitoring into the existing site monitoring program, a review of InSAR-based dam performance, a summary of the lessons learned, and recommendations for implementing InSAR at other projects.

Text

2024-07-10

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88610

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/