practice. In all cases, its introduction has elevated dewatered and reduced-risk tailings technologies from optional alternatives to central considerations in feasibility planning. Regional Regulatory Trends Driving Dewatering Technologies Latin America (Chile and Peru) The (Vargas & Campomanes Minerals 2022) review demonstrates that Chile and Peru have become global leaders in the adoption of filtered tailings and dry stacking due to a combination of regulatory, environmental, and social drivers. Both countries face chronic water scarcity, particularly where mines depend on desalination or long-distance water conveyance. Their regulatory frameworks increasingly emphasize: • water efficiency, • minimized environmental impact, and • reduced long-term liability associated with wet impoundments. Dry-stack TSFs in these regions operate at large scale—including high-throughput facilities with truck or conveyor-based deposition—reflecting both regulatory encouragement and economic necessity. North America & Canada (Regulatory Transparency and Cost Reporting) The (Cox et al. Elsevier 2022) financial analysis highlights how technical reporting frameworks such as NI 43-101 in Canada historically offered limited granularity in tailings cost disclosure. This opacity contributed to a bias toward low-CAPEX wet tailings options because long-term costs were not transparently reported. The study argues that better regulatory transparency is needed to ensure operators internalize the true lifecycle costs—including closure and perpetual care—of TSFs. While not a regulation per se, this evolving financial reporting environment is pushing operators to consider alternative tailings strategies that reduce long-term liabilities, aligning indirectly with GISTM’s objectives. Australia (Focus on Closure and Landform Stability) In Western Australia, life-cycle cost analyses (Carneiro & Fourie 2019) show that regulatory and social pressures around closure, water use, and land disturbance are shifting expectations around TSF acceptability. Closure performance—particularly the duration and cost of post-closure monitoring—has become a decisive factor in evaluating tailings strategies. Regulatory processes also increasingly emphasize proactive rehabilitation and minimize residual long-term risk. This shift has created a regulatory climate where operators must justify why they are not choosing lower-risk alternatives such as thickened, paste, or filtered tailings. Industry Trend Toward Reduced-Risk, Reduced-Water Tailings Systems Several documents highlight a consistent trend: regulators, insurers, investors, and communities increasingly expect mine operators to adopt tailings solutions that reduce water content and minimize the potential for catastrophic failure. Fitton’s review (Paste 2024) identifies thickened discharge and filter stacking as the most viable above-ground, dam-reduced or dam-less storage options currently available, based on both
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