All major mining operations have tailings storage facilities and recent tragic failures of major tailings dams highlight the need for new methods to assess the integrity and stability of this infrastructure. Drilling into existing dams is difficult and provides only localised information. Geophysical methods can provide three-dimensional coverage but existing techniques such as resistivity imaging,
time-domain electromagnetics, seismic refraction and MASW often provide only limited depth of investigation and indirect proxies for important engineering parameters.

Passive seismic techniques have evolved rapidly over the past decade and now potentially provide new methods to better image the interior of large tailings storage facilities that may provide three-dimensional information that is more directly applicable to engineers. This project explores the application of a range of passive seismic methods for imaging the interior of mine tailings dams. In 2019 the focus has been on literature review and code development for forward and inverse modelling. Initial data acquisition trials, planned for mid-2019, were delayed and will now take place in 2020.