74 This evolution transferred additional technical and commercial responsibility to the mining company, increasing exposure to product compliance and market risks. As a result, the review emphasized the need for formal testing, documentation, and traceability of assumptions prior to entering binding commercial commitments. Alternative risk‑sharing arrangements were considered as potential mitigation strategies, illustrating typical trade‑offs associated with circular economy projects. 6.2.5 Lessons Learned on Integrated Management Systems Although the project predated the implementation of a fully integrated digital management platform, the review process highlighted how the lack of structured data integration directly affected project timelines, risk evaluation, and governance clarity. The need to manually consolidate dispersed information underscored the importance of integrated systems capable of supporting: • consolidation of multidisciplinary technical and commercial data; • documentation and traceability of assumptions and decisions; • scenario comparison under evolving risk conditions; and • governance oversight aligned with lifecycle decision‑making. This case illustrates that integrated management systems do not eliminate uncertainty in circular tailings strategies; rather, they enable its structured management, supporting risk‑informed decisions and reducing reliance on informal knowledge and ad‑hoc coordination. As such, they constitute a critical enabler for aligning circular economy initiatives with engineering rigor and governance expectations throughout the lifecycle of mining operations. 7. LIMITATION AND CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS While digitalization and integrated data systems offer important support for implementing circular economy strategies in tailings management, their application is subject to a number of limitations and critical considerations that must be explicitly acknowledged. Failure to recognize these constraints may lead to overconfidence in technological solutions and an underestimation of residual risks. One of the primary limitations relates to data quality and completeness. Integrated systems are inherently dependent on the accuracy, consistency, and representativeness of the data they receive. Historical tailings facilities, legacy datasets, and long‑operating sites often suffer from incomplete material characterization, limited monitoring records, or undocumented operational changes. In such contexts, digital integration alone cannot compensate for data gaps, and decisions based on incomplete information may create a false sense of confidence rather than genuine risk reduction (Vick, 1990; Morgenstern et al., 2016). Another critical consideration concerns the maturity of organizational governance structures. Digital tools may facilitate documentation and traceability, but they do not inherently
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