Tailings Dam Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Tailings dam patents: design, monitoring and closure claims mapped
One filer dominates. the leading assignee holds 37 records against a fifth-place count of just 2, with a long tail of single-filing entrants behind it. Filings peaked at 25 in 2020, the high point across the coverage window. Volume dipped afterward but resumed climbing over the following complete years: 2021's 4 filings rose to 5 by 2024, a 25% increase across that span. 2025 and 2026 figures are not yet complete because of publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
- 1盎格鲁集团服务南非(私人)有限公司37
- 2英美资源服务(英国)有限公司9
- 3BEHARIE TERTIA6
- 4英美资源技术与可持续发展服务有限公司2
- 5RESIDUE SOLUTIONS2
See the full tailings dam design and monitoring analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on tailings dam patents
Who holds the most patents on tailings dam design and monitoring?
One assignee holds 37 of the records in the 7-company ranking returned for this search, far ahead of the fifth-place count of 2. That filer’s portfolio centres on internal drainage networks and decant-point engineering for tailings storage facilities. The rest of the ranking is a long tail of much smaller filers, so freedom-to-operate work should focus first on the leader’s specific claims rather than assuming the field is evenly contested.
Is tailings dam patent filing activity increasing?
Filings peaked in 2020 at 25 in this dataset, then fell back before climbing again from 4 in 2021 to 5 in 2024, a 25% rise over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because patent publication typically lags actual filing by about 18 months, so those years should not yet be read as a decline. The honest read is renewed growth through the last complete year on record, not a peak already passed.
What patent classes cover tailings dam dewatering technology?
Water and wastewater treatment (C02F) appears in 50.0% of the 50 records in scope and wet separation of solids (B03B) in 40.0%, making these the two densest technology classes. Filtration (B01D) and solid waste disposal (B09B) each sit at 28.0%, with metal extraction (C22B) and hydraulic engineering (E02B) at 26.0%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Tailings Dam Design and Monitoring covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.