Bishkek. September 28 - 30, 2021. Under the project "Improving Tailings Management Facility Safety in Kyrgyzstan," implemented by the NGO Platform for Sustainable Development (Ukraine) and the Country Office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, structured and coordinated by the German Environment Agency , “training the trainers” event for TMF operators, representatives of the competent authorities, international experts and environmental inspectors on the safety of TMFs´ in Kyrgyzstan being held. The project is being carried out with the participation of the Ministry of Energy and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic and the State Inspectorate for Energy, Mine Supervision and Industrial Safety of the Ministry of Energy and Industry and is funded by the Advisory Assistance Program of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.
In the frame of the project, the TMF Checklist for safety evaluation of individual TMF has been tested. The TMF Checklist is part of the TMF Methodology which was approved at the Conference of the Parties to the UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, and earlier has been tested at facilities in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Romania. The relevant state competent authorities are also interested in integrating the TMF Methodology for using in the Kyrgyz Republic and the above-mentioned project "Improving Tailings Management Facility Safety in Kyrgyzstan" has been initiated for this purpose.
The international training event is considered as a demonstration workshop and was dedicated to capacity strengthening related to the enhanced operation of tailings management facilities. The training included 1 day of theoretical lectures, 1-day of field exercises at the TMF and 1-day of the desk exercises to assess the safety conditions of the visited TMF using a checklist methodology.
A total of 35 participants from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and other EECCA countries took part in the event. Trainings was conducted by experts who have been directly involved in the TMF methodology development process. The practical part of the international training course was held at the TMF operated by LLC "Altynken" at the Taldybulak Levoberezhny gold deposit. Based on the results of the training events the issue of further possibility of introducing the TMF methodology into the practice of environmental audit in the Kirgiz Republic and they will be discussed with the relevant ministries.
Implementation of this Methodology will help competent state bodies in cooperation and tailings management facilities operators to apply international methods of tailings safety assessment which will allow to have a clearer grasp of the situation, set priorities, detect and eliminate problems in time to avoid possible disasters, victims and serious consequences for the environment. International trainers and experts, participants from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Romania, national participants from competent state authorities, representatives of mining companies and environmental inspectors take part in the training event.