This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to plan and design tailings management facilities (TMF). It applies where the activities of a metals, minerals or other processing plant produces waste in the form of tailings (e.g. slag and slurry) or wastewater.This unit of competency applies to health, safety and environment (HSE) managers/officers, frontline managers, site managers/officers or those in similar roles who are required to develop risk identification and management strategies (business and environmental) and scope and design tailings disposal management systems and facilities. This unit of competency applies to a person who has the responsibility for the planning and design of a company’s tailings waste management system or the planning and design of tailings-specific disposal sites from the early stage metalliferous processes. This would include the planning and design of an environmental management system focused on continual improvement to review, prevent, mitigate or ameliorate adverse environmental impacts and which will provide for the safe storage and disposal of residual wastes and process residues. This unit of competency applies to early stage metal beneficiation processes, typically associated with aluminium, iron, gold, copper, tin, silver, lead and zinc, and similar processes. The TMF will have deposited material suspended in varying levels of water ranging from slurry (e.g. ‘red mud’), through high slump pastes (e.g. filter cake) to low slump pastes; the focus being sub-aerial deposition (not subaqueous or sea deposition). However, with appropriate contextualisation this unit of competency may be applied to other types of waste deposited in a TMF, including overburden, slag or other solid waste products from later metalliferous processes.No occupational licensing or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.Some jurisdictions may define requirements for tailings storage facility design, construction and ongoing management. Users should check with the relevant authorities and adhere to any such requirements.