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Quest Training

Tailings Governance & Risk Management Training Course

Strengthens tailings governance and executive accountability: GISTM roles, independent review, risk oversight, and disclosure, with no engineering design.

MSH · Mine Safety & HealthAll Levels#3078ClassroomEnglish , Arabic
Duration
5 Days
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Free substitution at any time · 30+ days' notice: full refund minus 10%. Cancellation policy

Sectors:Mining & MineralsCategories:Mine Safety & Health

Course Overview

The Tailings Governance & Risk Management Training Course equips executives, board members, mine managers, and mining authority officials with the knowledge needed to oversee tailings facilities and answer for their safety. Its focus is governance and management accountability, not engineering design: participants learn what to ask, who must answer, and how to judge the answers, while design, construction, and technical analysis remain with qualified specializts. Tailings facilities can remain a hazard long after the ore that produced them has been sold, and failures can have catastrophic consequences for communities, the environment, and the organizations responsible. Participants examine why such failures are so often traced to governance weaknesses: unclear accountability, production and cost pressure, turnover of knowledge, warnings that never reached decision makers, and review findings left unresolved. The course is built around the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and related ICMM guidance. Participants study the roles of the accountable executive, the Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer, the Engineer of Record, and the Independent Tailings Review Board; consequence classification and risk oversight; management of change; community engagement and emergency preparedness; public disclosure; and how regulators across the Gulf and Africa can supervise these facilities as a governance matter. The course is delivered through failure case studies analyzed for their governance lessons, accountability mapping exercises, board reporting drills, disclosure reviews, and a final governance workshop. Participants leave with a tailings accountability matrix, a board oversight question set, a risk reporting template, an independent review terms outline, and a tailings governance improvement plan they can adapt to their own organization.

Learning Objectives

  • Explain why tailings facilities demand board-level and executive attention throughout their life.
  • Analyze past failures to identify the governance weaknesses that allowed risks to grow.
  • Interpret the structure and requirements of the GISTM from a management perspective.
  • Define the roles of accountable executive, Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer, Engineer of Record, and Independent Tailings Review Board.
  • Separate management accountability from the technical judgments that belong to qualified specializts.
  • Oversee consequence classification and use its results in management decisions about resources and priorities.
  • Establish tailings risk reporting that carries warnings quickly to decision makers.
  • Commission independent reviews and follow their findings through to closure.
  • Govern management of change when production, ownership, staffing, or budgets shift.
  • Protect funding and knowledge continuity for facilities across their life, including after closure.
  • Oversee community engagement and emergency preparedness with affected people and local authorities.
  • Prepare public disclosure on tailings facilities that is honest, consistent, and useful.
  • Assess inherited and legacy facilities during acquisitions, divestments, and restructuring of mining assets.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for mining executives, board and risk committee members, mine general managers, accountable executives, and senior managers who hold or oversee responsibility for tailings facilities at operating, inactive, or closed sites. It is equally relevant for risk managers, internal auditors, HSE and sustainability leaders, legal counsel, and investor relations teams who must report on tailings risk, as well as officials in ministries of mines, mining authorities, dam safety bodies, and environmental agencies. Professionals in state mining companies, lenders, insurers, and development finance institutions across the Gulf and Africa will find the course directly applicable. It assumes no engineering background. It is particularly valuable for organizations adopting the GISTM for the first time and for those inheriting older facilities through acquisition or restructuring.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
  • Explain tailings risk to boards and executives in clear, non-technical language.
  • Identify the governance weaknesses that have contributed to past tailings failures and check for them in their own organization.
  • Assess an organization's tailings arrangements against the main GISTM expectations.
  • Assign accountability among the Accountable Executive, Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer, and Engineer of Record.
  • Distinguish decisions that belong to management from those that belong to specializts.
  • Ask informed oversight questions about consequence classification and risk assessments without second-guessing specializts.
  • Design risk reports and escalation paths that carry warnings to decision makers without delay.
  • Write terms for an independent review and follow its findings through to closure.
  • Apply management of change controls when production, ownership, budgets, or staffing shift.
  • Protect funding, records, and knowledge continuity across a facility's whole life and after its closure.
  • Review community engagement, emergency preparedness, and public disclosure arrangements with affected people in mind.
  • Build a tailings governance improvement plan with owners and review points suited to their own organization.

Course Outline

Course Outline:

Day 1

Why Tailings Are a Governance Issue

  • What tailings facilities are: a plain-language briefing for non-engineers
  • How a facility's risk profile changes across its life and after closure
  • Why long facility life makes ownership of risk harder to sustain
  • Inactive and closed facilities: who remains responsible for them
  • Governance lessons from major tailings failures, without assigning technical causes
  • Production pressure, cost cutting, and warnings that never reached decision makers
  • Consequences for communities, the environment, investors, and public institutions
  • Practical application: participants analyze a failure case and list the governance gaps behind it
Day 2

Accountability, Roles, and the GISTM

  • Structure and principles of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management
  • Board oversight and the role of the accountable executive
  • Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer, Engineer of Record, and how they relate to management
  • Independent review: purpose, composition, and access to senior leaders
  • Giving specializts direct access to the accountable executive and the board
  • Separating management accountability from specializt technical judgment
  • Practical application: participants build a tailings accountability matrix for a mining company
Day 3

Risk Oversight and Management Reporting

  • Consequence classification and what it means for management decisions
  • Tailings risks within enterprise risk management
  • Questions boards and executives should ask about risk assessments
  • Risk reporting, escalation paths, and thresholds for immediate notification
  • Management decisions when reported risk exceeds the organization's risk appetite
  • Lender, insurer, and investor questions on tailings risk
  • Funding the safety of facilities and resisting short-term budget pressure
  • Practical application: participants draft a board risk report and a set of oversight questions
Day 4

Assurance, Change, and Continuity

  • Internal audit, external assurance, and commissioning independent reviews
  • Tracking review findings and recommendations through to closure
  • Management of change when production, ownership, staffing, or budgets shift
  • Knowledge continuity, records, and handover when people leave
  • Contractors and consultants: managing dependence and conflicts of interest
  • Acquisitions, divestments, and inherited or legacy facilities
  • Site visits by executives: what to look for without acting as an engineer
  • Practical application: participants draft independent review terms and a management of change gate
Day 5

Communities, Disclosure, and Regulators

  • Engaging affected communities and sharing risk information
  • Emergency preparedness governance with local authorities and residents
  • Public disclosure, investor expectations, and consistency of reporting
  • How regulators can supervise tailings governance across the Gulf and Africa
  • Closure and long-term responsibility for facilities
  • Affected-community grievance handling and transparent follow-up
  • Lessons for national tailings inventories and public registers
  • Final workshop: participants develop a tailings governance improvement plan for their organization

Upcoming Dates

Selected date

Accra · 25 – 29 Oct 2027 · Classroom

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Kuala LumpurScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€4,700—
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LisbonScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€6,000—
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LondonScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€5,800—
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MadinahScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€4,800—
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MadridScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€6,000€5,400until 2 Nov
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MakkahScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€4,800€4,320until 9 Nov
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ManamaScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€5,300€4,770until 9 Nov
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MuscatScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€6,300€5,670until 16 Nov
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OnlineScheduled
13 – 17 Dec 2026€2,700€2,430until 23 Nov
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ParisScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€6,700€6,030until 30 Nov
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Sharm El-SheikhScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€5,300€4,770until 30 Nov
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SingaporeScheduled
28 Dec 2026 – 1 Jan 2027€9,100€8,190until 7 Dec
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AbujaScheduled
4 – 8 Jan 2027€7,700€6,930until 14 Dec
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AccraScheduled
4 – 8 Jan 2027€7,700€6,930until 14 Dec
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AmmanScheduled
10 – 14 Jan 2027€4,000€3,600until 21 Dec
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AmsterdamScheduled
18 – 22 Jan 2027€6,000€5,400until 28 Dec
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BakuScheduled
18 – 22 Jan 2027€5,300€4,770until 28 Dec
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BarcelonaScheduled
25 – 29 Jan 2027€6,000€5,400until 4 Jan
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BeirutScheduled
31 Jan – 4 Feb 2027€4,500€4,050until 11 Jan
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BerlinScheduled
1 – 5 Feb 2027€6,300€5,670until 11 Jan
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CairoScheduled
7 – 11 Feb 2027€3,800€3,420until 18 Jan
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Cape TownScheduled
15 – 19 Feb 2027€7,700€6,930until 25 Jan
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DammamScheduled
21 – 25 Feb 2027€4,800€4,320until 1 Feb
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CasablancaScheduled
22 – 26 Feb 2027€4,700€4,230until 1 Feb
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DohaScheduled
28 Feb – 4 Mar 2027€4,700€4,230until 8 Feb
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DubaiScheduled
7 – 11 Mar 2027€4,700€4,230until 15 Feb
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14 – 18 Mar 2027€4,000€3,600until 22 Feb
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IstanbulScheduled
15 – 19 Mar 2027€5,300€4,770until 22 Feb
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JeddahScheduled
21 – 25 Mar 2027€4,800€4,320until 1 Mar
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KigaliScheduled
22 – 26 Mar 2027€7,700€6,930until 1 Mar
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AccraScheduled
25 – 29 Oct 2027€7,700€6,930until 4 Oct
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