Objectives of the service
Viridien is shaping the future of mine asset monitoring with a new automated, remote Global Tailings Monitoring Service (GTMS) designed to enable more comprehensive and consistent monitoring of tailings storage facilities (TSFs) at mine sites.
GTMS will deliver actionable intelligence to mine operators and engineers responsible for the safety of multiple or single assets, helping them to detect early warning precursor signals to prevent failures that can have significant economic, environmental, social and reputational consequences.
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The key benefits of using GTMS as part of routine operations include:
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Combination of Earth Observation (EO) technologies and environmental datasets to address numerous potential failure mechanisms
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Highly automated workflow with human-driven validation to balance cost and safety
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Access to all data on a single, accessible online portal to streamline end-user analysis
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A portfolio-based approach, ensuring all sites within a portfolio are monitored with a consistent and comprehensive approach
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Results will be delivered with every new satellite data acquisition
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Rapid data delivery powered by Viridien’s world class HPC capacity
Users and their needs
The core users of the Global Tailings Monitoring Service are mining companies. This market has been explored as part of the demonstration project in terms of both technical and business development needs.
User needs can generally be divided into five broad categories: acknowledgment of multiple failure modes, data integration, cost effectiveness, data delivery and precursor alerting. User requirements can vary greatly depending on the characteristics of the sites within a user’s portfolio as well as their broader aims and objectives. Notwithstanding, GTMS aims to provide all sites within a global portfolio with a comprehensive and robust monitoring solution as standard, upon which more complex and site-specific datasets can be added.
Service/ system concept
Developed with ESA Space Solutions, the GTMS service offers a more cost-effective TSF monitoring solution than other more bespoke approaches. With the option of being fully scalable across a portfolio of sites, it integrates a wide-ranging suite of Earth Observation and environmental data sets on a single online platform to address numerous potential failure mechanisms. This increases efficiency for the end-user by streamlining data collation, comparison and analysis to aid early identification of precursors to failure. Results are generated across entire portfolios at industry-leading speeds using Viridien’s world-class high-performance computing (HPC) capacity. These results are delivered with every new satellite data acquisition, which is a much higher frequency compared to approaches that provide updates monthly, quarterly or annually.
The diagram below illustrates the system’s high-level architecture.
Space Added Value
GTMS integrates environmental data with products derived from both optical and radar satellites. As standard, GTMS will use a suite of open-access satellites, including Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Landsat and NISAR (available late 2025). Furthermore, GTMS is also compatible with high‑resolution commercial imagery on a bespoke basis, which is ideal for high‑risk or priority mining sites that need finer detail.
Current Status
GTMS commenced in June and held 1-to-1 meetings with engaged end users to update their requirements. The baseline design review was completed in early October. Viridien are now preparing for the critical design review in December 2025.
