The series of ʻPasteʼ seminars began in 1999 and each year a conference is held in either Australia, South Africa, Chile or the Northern Hemisphere. The conference has been held in Southern Africa in 2001 (Pilansberg), 2004 (Cape Town), 2008 (Kasane, Botswana) and in 2012 it returns to South Africa. This seminar has attracted a large number of regular attendees as it is the premier international forum for the development of the technologies associated with the disposal of high density waste tailings. It deals with the developments in dewatering technologies, such as thickening and flocculation, advances in pump and pipeline understanding, and surface and mine backfill.The objective of the seminar series is to disseminate the latest advancements in the field of paste and thickened tailings technology by providing a forum to present the work that is being done in the field, and obtain feedback based on case studies and operating installations from practitioners.