Of all the wastes produced by industrialized man, the largest tonnage and volume, by far, consists of mining wastes. The environmentally acceptable disposal of mining wastes has many facets or issues and these vary with the mineral being mined and with the topography, geology and climate of the mine site. This paper, written by authors from southern and northern hemisphere countries, addresses four of the most important issues concerning the management of mine wastes and tailings. These are: • failure mechanisms and shear failures of tailings dams under earthquake loadings; • static liquefaction as the mechanism for flow failures of tailings dams under non-seismic conditions; • the long-term rehabilitation and environmental protection of closed tailings dams, and • the use of mine waste as a structural underground support in deep mining.