Assessment of Risks Associated with the Operation of the Tailings Storage Facility Veliki Krivelj, Bor (Serbia)

The Tailings Storage Facility Veliki Krivelj was formed by damming the Krivelj River valley, and it constitutes one of the largest industrial waste disposal sites in Serbia. As such, it represents a big challenge for the Bor Copper Mine in terms of stability preservation and environmental protection. Bearing this in mind, it is safe to say that it is of crucial importance to recognize all the risks involved with its operation and management. This paper presents a semi-quantitative assessment of the risks entailed in the management of Tailings Storage Facility Veliki Krivelj, and demonstrates the use of 4×4 risk matrix to estimate the likelihood of potential failure scenarios and consequences and includes the application of the „As Low As Reasonably Practicable“ diagram for final risk evaluation. The results show that the management of the Tailings Storage Facility Veliki Krivelj is associated with risks that vary from negligible to high, i.e. from broadly to conditionally acceptable risks and also suggest that the irregularities in hydraulic elements and hydro-technical structures at Tailings Storage Facility are the ones with the greatest impact in increasing the risks.