LUIS VALENZUELA P, RAMON VERDUGO A, JOSE CAMPANA Z & CARMEN G OPAZO A


and piezometric level records, the deposition slope was changed to 1:3.5 (V:H). A final slope of 1:3 (V:H) is considered for the closing stage[28].


Although this dam had not been built at the time of the Valparaíso earthquake in 1985, there were already accelerometers installed in the rock at the dam site and the recordings of this strong and relatively close earthquake were considered later in the dam’s dynamic stability analysis. Two large earthquakes have been registered during the operation of the


TSF: the 27th February 2010 earthquake, Mw = 8.8, and the 16th September 2015 earthquake, Mw = 8.4. In both seismic events, no significant damage or deformation was observed. The instrument, located in hard soil and associated with the main dam, recorded the data shown in Table 6[42].


Table 6. Recordings of large earthquakes in Las Tórtolas main dam(1)


The Quillayes Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) is of special interest due to a series of conditions that translated into the implementation of severe design, construction and operating restrictions. The Los Pelambres mine project is located 300km north of Santiago, with the TSF located near the other mining facilities. The site is in the foot hills of the Andes Mountains, at an average elevation of 1400masl, approximately 85km from the Pacific Ocean. Operation of the TSF began with a planned maximum capacity of 257 million tons of dry tailings, but a final capacity of 360 million tons was achieved with the final height of 198m∗ of the tailings sand dam[43].


The main dam is a tailings sand dam constructed from the hydraulic deposition of sands obtained from cycloning of the produced tailings, originally designed to have a maximum height of 175m after seven years of operation. The starter dam was a 70m-high compacted


228 DAM ENGINEERING


Vol XXXI Issue 3


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