Abstract: Early warning information of identification，acquisition and analysis are the key techniques to prevent tailings dam failure.Based on the domestic and foreign 121 tailings dam failure accidents，the early-warning system and method is analyzed by means of the principle of risk early warning.The results show that the typical tailings dam failure modes consist of seepage failure and dam overtopping；the warning factor index of seepage failure include water infiltration and dam swamp；the warning factor index of dam overtopping include rainfall，flood storage and discharge capacity of warning indicators；the warning factor index of seismic liquefaction include the earthquake intensity and earthquake liquefaction landslide；the source index system include natural sources warning，inherent sources and anthropogenic sources；the steps of comprehensive early-warning method to tailings dam failure include the acquisition of the flood storage capacity，analysis of the total amount of flood in reservoir，discharging capacity analysis，flood regulating calculation，seepage analysis and anti-slide stability analysis to ensure the stability condition of the dam.These indexes can be as the warning criterions to keep the safe operation of tailings pond.

Key words: Tailings pond, Dam failure, Early-warning system, Comprehensive early-warning method