Background The great copper mines in Chile have experienced a continuous growth in mineral production rates in the last 30 years. This, coupled with low ore yield, has led to a significant increase in tailings production. In addition, the deposits of this mineral are of great dimensions, easily topping the thousand million tons of mineral. All of this indicates that the management and storage of the mine process waste has become significantly important in the design and operation of an existing or a new mine. The Ovejeria Dam in Andina, Chile, took five years to build and has been fully operational since December 1999. Its estimated useful life is 50 years. It includes an 86 km concrete canal to transport tailings from an on-site concentrator plant to the dam, including 22 km of t

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