Numerous accidents at tailing disposal sites have occurred due to dam failure and geotechnical instability. The uncontrolled spreading of pollution into the surrounding environment, illustrates over and over again the need for safe and effective management of these kinds of sites. Safe and effective management measures can only be implemented on the basis of a thorough understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes taking place at the tailing facilities. After implementation of the necessary measures, ongoing monitoring can verify the proper functioning of the rehabilitated tailing disposal sites. Assessment and evaluation of historic tailing facilities has shown a need for improved monitoring concepts and techniques. In this paper the authors present a new monitoring technique which meets the needs for safe and effective monitoring and can be applied within a smart monitoring concept.