Catastrophic tailings dam failures and disaster risk disclosure

Owen, John R.; Kemp, Deanna; Lèbre, Éléonore; Svobodová, Kamila; Murillo, G. Pérez

doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101361

Cited by 216 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The methodological framework consists of a spatial overlay between mining data from the S&P Global Market Intelligence database-a commercial database that gathers public disclosures from mining companies-and publicly available data sets assembled into seven ESG dimensions. This approach, used in previous work 16,17,[29][30][31] , models the interface between a mining project and the geographic context in which it is located. It focuses on building an understanding of inherent or latent complexities present in the external context.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals

et al. 2020

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Environmental, social and governance pressures should feature in future scenario planning about the transition to a low carbon future. As low-carbon energy technologies advance, markets are driving demand for energy transition metals. Increased extraction rates will augment the stress placed on people and the environment in extractive locations. To quantify this stress, we develop a set of global composite environmental, social and governance indicators, and examine mining projects across 20 metal commodities to identify the co-occurrence of environmental, social and governance risk factors. Our findings show that 84% of platinum resources and 70% of cobalt resources are located in high-risk contexts. Reflecting heightened demand, major metals like iron and copper are set to disturb more land. Jurisdictions extracting energy transition metals in low-risk contexts are positioned to develop and maintain safeguards against mining-related social and environmental risk factors.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals

et al. 2020

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“…The mining waste disposal and the long-term management of tailing storage facilities are critical issues of the mining process, as they can cause landscape damages and can lead to severe environmental contamination and destruction of living ecosystems [10,11]. Worldwide, several tailing dam accidents with significant environmental damages and sometimes also with human lives loss were reported [11,12]. One of the most important tailings dam failures occurred in 2000 in Baia Mare, Romania, due to an improper design and lack of effective management of the tailings impoundment, causing catastrophic damages to the environment [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Gold from Mining Wastes

Neag¹,

Kovács²,

Dinca³

et al. 2021

Strategies of Sustainable Solid Waste Management

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Gold is a highly required material for a wide range of personal and industrial applications. The high demand for gold, together with the shortage of natural resources and high pollution potential of wastes generated during mining and ore processing activities led to search for alternative sources of gold. A possible source is represented by mine wastes resulting from the processing of polymetallic or sulfidic ores. The reprocessing of wastes and old tailings with moderate to low content of gold offers not only a business opportunity, but also enhances the quality of the surrounding environment, changes the land use and offers a wide range of socio-economic benefits. Cyanidation, the most widespread Au leaching option, is progressively abandoned due to the high risk associated with its use and to the low public acceptance. Therefore, alternative methods such as thiocyanate, thiourea, thiosulphate and halide leaching gained more and more interest. This chapter presents the most important features of some Au leaching methods, emphasizing their advantages, limitations and potential applications.

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“…The mining industry produces billions of tonnes of tailings waste each year that are often contained in above‐ground reservoirs, or tailings dams, which are among the largest engineered structures on Earth (Azam & Li, 2010; Kossoff et al, 2014; Owen et al, 2020; Pullum et al, 2018). The earth‐filled embankments of tailings dams have a global failure rate twofold to tenfold that of conventional concrete and steel dams (Davies, 2001, 2002; Vogel, 2013; WISE, 2020), and the sudden release of massive volumes of waste slurry as a gravity current can have catastrophic consequences for downstream populations, infrastructure, and environments (e.g., Davies, 2001; Kraft et al, 2006; Leppänen et al, 2017; Macklin et al, 2003; Sammarco, 2004; Santamarina et al, 2019; Segura et al, 2016; Shandro et al, 2017; Van Niekerk & Viljoen, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Turbidity Linked to Physical Dynamics in a Deep Lake Following the Catastrophic 2014 Mount Polley Mine Tailings Spill

Hamilton

Laval

Petticrew

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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The catastrophic August 2014 Mount Polley tailings spill, the second largest ever documented, sent ~18 Mm3 of waste plunging to the bottom of the >100 m deep West Basin of Quesnel Lake, British Columbia, a critical West Coast salmon habitat. To understand the impact of the spill on the lake, including the fate of suspended solids, we examine changes in physical water properties over 11 years (2006–2017) using water column profiles, moored timeseries, and satellite imagery. Contaminated waters were initially largely confined to the hypolimnion; however, during autumn 2014 turnover, turbid waters were mixed to the surface, resulting in the clear blue lake turning bright green. Twelve months after the spill, the lake's temperature, conductivity, and turbidity temporarily returned to pre‐spill conditions; however, initiation of mine effluent discharge in late 2015 was associated with a subsequent 15 μS cm−1 conductivity increase above historic values. Importantly, a post‐spill 1–2.5 formazin turbidity unit hypolimnetic turbidity increase was observed during spring and fall turnovers of 2015–2017, which appeared to be due to resuspension of a thin layer of unconsolidated spill‐related material from the lake bed driven by large internal seiche motions. This process implies spill contaminants may be seasonally mobilized into the water column, with potentially detrimental impacts on aquatic ecology. Our findings underscore that basin‐scale physical processes, including seasonal turnover and internal seiches, must be accounted for, even in deep lakes, to understand the long‐term impact of the ever increasing number of tailings spills into aquatic ecosystems.

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Catastrophic tailings dam failures and disaster risk disclosure

Cited by 216 publications

References 23 publications

The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals

The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals

Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Gold from Mining Wastes

Seasonal Turbidity Linked to Physical Dynamics in a Deep Lake Following the Catastrophic 2014 Mount Polley Mine Tailings Spill

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