2urtaiea, 1:47 Dam or be damned: Mining safety under scrutiny
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22MAR 2018 | STORY | EXTRACTIVES
Dam or be damned: Mining safety under scrutiny
Wikimedia Commons
Recent incidents in Brazil and Australia have once again put the spotlight on the
safety of mining operations, and specifically their dams.
In February, Brazil's environment authorities in the eastern Para State asked
operators of the Alunorte alumina refinery to reduce operations by 50 per cent
due to concerns over potential water contamination.
The authorities also ordered the halting of operations at one of two tailings
dams at the Paragominas bauxite mine. The major shareholder of the firm that
owns both facilities is Norsk Hydro.
Barely two weeks later, a section of the northern dam wall at the Cadia mine,
located in eastern Australia’s state of New South Wales, collapsed. The incident
forced the mine's operator, Newcrest Mining, to halt operations at the mine.
Brazil is no stranger to mining disasters. In 2015, the southeastern Germano
iron ore mine, which is close to the city of Mariana, experienced a breach at the
Fundao dam and released 39.2 million cubic metres of waste. Nineteen people
were killed, including five village residents and 14 employees of the Samarco
mining firm which operated the mine. The slurry travelled 650 kilometres and
ended up in the Atlantic Ocean 17 days later.
Why should we care about the impact of mine
tailings and their impact on the environment?
Mine tailings are one of the components of
mine waste besides overburden, waste rock
and water. Their physical and chemical
properties vary and are dependent on factors
such as the size of mined materials and their
moisture content, the structure of the mined
hitpsswwvcunep.orginews-and-striesistoryam-or-be-damned-mining-safey-under-scrutiny 12urtaiea, 1:47 Dam or be damned: Mining safety under scrutiny
rock, and the method of processing used. They October 2017 aerial image of
may also contain harmful material ranging ee esr in atariana,
from heavy to radioactive metals as well as Minas Gerais, Brazil. (Vinicius
sulphide minerals and reactants such as Mendonga/lbama)
cyanide, which pollute the soil and vital water
sources.
In November 2017, UN Environment and Norwegian foundation GRID-Arendal
jointly published a report on safety at mine tailings dams.
“It is clear that in most documented failures (apart from earthquake-induced
failures) there were ample warning signs beforehand. The tragedy is that the
warning signs were either ignored or not recognized by under-resourced
management,” said the report.
The report also noted that increased climate variability and extreme weather are
also a challenge to dam safety, with heavy rain having been cited as a
contributor to 25 per cent of global and 35 per cent of European tailings dam
failures.
So, what needs to be done to ensure better management of tailings storage? It
is important to strengthen international cooperation and coordination on mining
regulation, and especially safe storage of tailings.
“Mining is an important economic activity, particularly in low- and middle-
income countries. When done responsibly, it can contribute to a country’s
sustainable development. Therefore, it is important that the industry continues
to strive towards adopting best health, safety and environmental practices,
including addressing pollution issues,” said Ecuadorian conservationist Yolanda
Kakabadse.
Her sentiments were echoed by UN
Environment's Executive Director Erik Solheim
during his visit to Brazil this month.
“We must place safety first by prioritizing
environmental and human safety in all aspects
of mining operations. Regulators, companies
and communities need to embrace a policy of in November 2015, an iron ore
tailings dam in Bento
Rodrigues, Brazil, suffered a
hitpsswwvcunep.orginews-and-striesistorydam-or-be-damned-mining-safey-under-scutiny 24aire, 4:47 Dam or be damned Mining safety under set
zero-failure objective as far as tailings storage catastrophic failure, causing
‘ Went A flooding and at least 17
is concerned,” said Solheim. deaths. (Wikimedia Commons)
“Through international cooperation, countries
have an opportunity to learn from each other about how to overcome obstacles
to safety,” he further said.
While there is no publicly accessible inventory of tailings dams, the UN
Environment and GRID-Arendal report says there could be at least 3,500 dams
around the world.
It also adds that while the overall number of annual dam failures has been in
decline, the number of serious incidents has increased.
Between 2007 and 2017, there were at least 10 very serious mine tailings dam
failures around the world. These involved multiple loss of life, approximately 20
lives per incident and/or the release of at least one million cubic metres of
water. The waste in some of these cases travelled 20 kilometres or more.
Learn more about UN Environment's work on the environmental causes and
consequences of disasters and conflicts.
Further resources
Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident
Frontiers 2017: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern
Environmental Emergencies Forum
Contact Oli Brown at oli.brown@un.org or Zhanyl Moldalieva at
Zhanyl.Moldalieva@un.org
TOPICS
Extractives / Disasters & conflicts
Natural Resources / Pollution
Related Sustainable Development Goals
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