999 ESG performance, increased operational resilience, and stronger alignment with regulatory and investor expectations. Despite these potential benefits, practical knowledge and implementation maturity within mining companies remain limited when it comes to applying circular economy principles to tailings management. In many cases, circular initiatives are addressed in a conceptual or fragmented manner, lacking systematic integration with engineering criteria, risk assessments, regulatory requirements, and formal governance structures. This limitation is often exacerbated by the absence of mechanisms capable of consolidating and institutionalizing technical knowledge across the tailings facility lifecycle. These challenges become particularly evident when examined considering international sustainability programs such as Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM). While TSM establishes clear expectations related to tailings governance, risk management, transparency, and continuous improvement, many organizations struggle to operationalize these requirements consistently. A key constraint is the lack of an integrated knowledge base capable of linking multidisciplinary data, design decisions, risk assumptions, and organizational accountability. However, the adoption of circular strategies in tailings management requires the integration of multidisciplinary data and the evaluation of complex risk scenarios. This paper explores how digitalization and integrated tailings management platforms can enable circular economy approaches by supporting technical rigor, strengthening governance, and promoting informed, traceable decision-making across the entire lifecycle of tailings facilities. 2. CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPLIED TO TAILINGS MANAGEMENT The traditional approach to tailings management has historically followed a linear economic model based on ore extraction, mineral processing, and final disposal. Under this paradigm, tailings are generated as residual materials and stored in surface facilities, often for indefinite periods, resulting in the accumulation of large inventories with long-term environmental, geotechnical, and safety implications. This approach reflects the broader linear economy model of “take–make–dispose,” which has been increasingly recognized as unsustainable in the face of growing industrial activity, declining ore grades, and pressure on finite natural resources (Müller, 2007; Ghisellini et al., 2016). In contrast, the circular economy seeks to decouple economic development from the consumption of virgin raw materials by extending material lifecycles, reducing waste generation, and reintegrating residual materials into productive systems (Müller, 2007; Kirchherr et al., 2017). When applied to the mining sector, and specifically to tailings management, circular economy principles challenge the long‑standing perception of tailings as permanent waste and promote their consideration as potential secondary resources or dynamically managed materials over the mine lifecycle (Chinchin, 2008; Kinnunen et al., 2022). Circular economy strategies applied to tailings management typically include: • reduction of tailings generation through process optimization and improved mineral recovery efficiency; • reprocessing of legacy and operational tailings to recover residual valuable minerals; • reuse of tailings as construction materials, aggregates, or underground backfill; and • adoption of alternative disposal technologies, such as thickened, paste, or filtered tailings systems, to reduce reliance on conventional tailings dams and associated long‑term liabilities (Lottermoser, 2010; Villachica et al., 2021). Several studies have demonstrated that tailings may contain economically significant concentrations of residual metals that were not recoverable using historical processing technologies, particularly in legacy facilities (Chinchin, 2008; Kinnunen et al., 2022). Advances in mineral processing methods, materials engineering, and tailings dewatering technologies have therefore renewed interest in
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