TAILINGS STORAGE FACILITY — Designed to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the tailings storage facility 5A of Lepanto Mines Division in Paco, Mankayan, Benguet also acts as a containment for all material that enters the facility – including rainy season silt from tributaries and other sediments from the adjacent slopes. The mega-structure is where fraction of unrecovered tail materials are captured and are made to settle, as sand size materials are recovered at the mill plant and are pumped back to the underground mine for filling the voids since this is a cut-and-fill mine. — LMD photo
