277 KEYWORDS Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF); Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS); DAS, DTS, DSS; GISTM; continuous monitoring; lifecycle governance; TSF risk reduction ACRONEYMS DFOS: Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing DAS: DTS: Distributed Acoustics Sensing DSS: DTS: Distributed Strain Sensing DTS: Distributed Temperature Sensing FOC: Fiber Optics Cable TSF: Tailings Storage Facilities TARP: Trigger‑Action‑Response Plans 1. CONTEXT AND PROBLEM STATEMENT Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) are among the most safety‑critical and ESG‑exposed facilities in mining. They must perform reliably over long operational lives and often well beyond closure, under evolving climatic, seismic, and operational conditions. High‑consequence failures have reinforced that TSFs should be managed as complex systems where geotechnical, hydrological, operational, governance, and human factors interact. The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) formalises this expectation by requiring risk‑informed design, operation, monitoring, emergency preparedness, and public disclosure across the lifecycle. A persistent gap remains between governance intent and monitoring reality. TSF monitoring commonly relies on point instruments (e.g., piezometers, inclinometers, prisms) and inspections that provide high-value measurements at discrete locations yet leave large volumes unmeasured and can delay localization of weak, distributed changes such as evolving seepage pathways or progressive deformation. Satellite InSAR adds repeatable, facility-wide surveillance of surface displacement; however, it primarily measures surface response, is constrained by line-of-sight, and can be limited by low temporal resolution and uncertainty without validation through additional sub-surface data. These constraints can reduce confidence in early detection, increase residual safety risk and weaken timely operational decisions, often leading to conservative controls, additional investigations, and avoidable cost escalation. WMC 2026 calls for practical contributions that build Trust, lead Transformation, and advance Technology to deliver the minerals society urgently needs, faster, smarter, and more responsibly. In this context, TSF monitoring is not only a technical matter: it is a trust‑critical capability influencing permit timelines, social license, capital availability, and operational continuity. Improving monitoring coverage and interpretability can support responsible
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