Analysis on Risk Factors of Tailings Dam Failures

The accidents of tailings dam failures are one of the most serious abrupt environmental pollution accidents in the world.This paper chose worldwide historical data on tailings dam failures as analysis data,and by developing a series of relational functions,the main factors influencing the results of tailings dam failures were analyzed based on nonlinear regress analysis.Research result found that,the key risk factors influencing tailings dam failures are the height of tailings dam and the volume of the tailings reservoir.When designing,building or operating a tailings reservoir,the height of tailings dam and the volume of the tailings reservoir must be limited,so as to reduce the potential risk of tailings dam failure.