|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The past two months have seen catastrophic failures at mine waste storage facilities on three continents. It’s the latest sequence in an alarming trend: Studies have shown that the rate of serious tailings dam failures is increasing. Tailings dams, which hold the mine waste left after the valuable mineral has been removed, are some of the largest man-made structures on the planet. And because tailings dams are not removed when the mine closes and mine waste does not become less toxic over time, they effectively last forever, posing an imminent threat to downstream communities.
In all three cases, heavy rains appear to have factored into the failure of the tailings dams. However, rainfall is not a cause of dam failure. In many countries around the world, like Indonesia, heavy rainfall is a fact of life. Tailings dams should be designed to withstand rainfall, especially as climate change exacerbates weather patterns.
Current industry standards (principally the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, released in 2020) and governmental regulations still do not go far enough to adequately protect communities and ecosystems from tailings failures. The design, construction, operation, and closure of tailings facilities require significant changes to protect people and the environment.
A set of guidelines endorsed by 164 frontline communities, Tribal governments, experts, academics, and human rights and environmental organizations—Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management—contends that any dam whose failure could result in the loss of a single life must be designed to withstand the largest flood that is theoretically possible at a given location. If rains result in a tailings dam failure, the dam was not designed properly or not maintained according to its design.
Unfortunately, many mining companies have been unwilling or unable to assume the costs and added rigor of more protective dam design. While the exact technical causes of these dam failures are not publicly available, the added protection against risks outlined in Safety First could likely have contributed to safer tailings dams.
These disasters drive home the high stakes when tailings dams fail. The mining industry must take decisive action to protect the lives of workers and families living in downstream communities, as well ecosystems and water resources.
Zambia
Two concurrent tailings dam failures in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province have affected millions of people, contaminating local rivers with highly acidic water and heavy metals such as iron, manganese, copper, and cobalt, and by destroying croplands. On February 18th a tailings dam collapsed at the Sino Metal Leach Limited mine near Kitwe, causing the shutdown of the public water distribution and leaving 700,000 people without access to potable water. While investigating the failure, authorities found a second tailings dam failure at the Rong Xin Limited mine, which was also spilling mine waste into local rivers. The Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation reported that “the mine has been found with all its tailing dams leaking, releasing acidic effluent into the stream and affecting hundreds of local people” and that all aquatic life in the nearby Luela stream had been killed. This was not the first time the government had discovered tailings failures at this mine.
According to a statement issued by Zambian civil society organizations, “these two environmental disasters have had immediate and catastrophic effects on aquatic and plant life downstream, killing fish, destroying smallholder crops, and causing large-scale biodiversity loss.“ They are calling for the immediate closure of the Rong Xin mine, compensation for affected communities and their full participation in the monitoring of mining operations, strengthened environmental regulations, and increased transparency and accountability.
Indonesia
Two dam failures at the same industrial park in Indonesia have killed three people and endangered the health of hundreds more.
On March 16, during heavy rains, the PT Huayue Nickel Cobalt tailings storage facility at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) failed, and tailings flowed into the Bahadopi River. The breach flooded industrial park facilities and the village of Labota with a wave of red water, putting the health of workers and 341 families at risk through exposure to heavy metals.
On March 21, a second tailings facility inside IMIP, owned by PT Qing Mei Bang (QMB) New Energy Materials, collapsed, killing three workers. IMIP’s second largest union, SPIM-KPBI, has stated the tailings facility was constructed on top of an infilled pond, a highly questionable practice that likely increased the water table within the facility.
Additionally, recent videos shared by workers showed a landslide at the PT QMB ore stockpile inside IMIP.
The problems may predate this month’s disasters. Google Earth imagery from January 2025 shows a landslide from the filtered tailings storage facility inside IMIP. This appears to show that at least one collapse of the PT HNC tailings facility occurred even before the heavy rains of March 2025 that caused multiple tailings dam failures at IMIP.
Bolivia
Also on the morning of March 16, and again during heavy rains, a tailings dam called the Laguna Kenko failed in the Llallagua District, on the Bolivian Altiplano. The failure left two dead, impacted 70% of the people in the downstream town of Andavilque, completely destroying 47 houses. The tailings stored in the Laguna Kenko contained a number of toxic heavy metals and other elements, and were leaching into the surrounding environment. The tailings dam was part of a closed tin mine, where the tailings were being remined to extract more tin from the waste.
Tailings dam failures are preventable
This loss of human life and devastation cannot continue. The safest tailings dam is one that is never built. Reducing demand for minerals can help prevent disasters. Where mining occurs, companies must be held accountable for preventing harm from the huge amounts of toxic waste that mining produces. Safety First’s set of 17 guidelines offers a specific, clear framework for tailings management that puts the well-being of people over the profits of mining companies.
Governments and mining companies must protect communities and the environment from toxic and deadly waste from mining operations. In the wake of disasters, damage must be remediated, and affected communities must be compensated and have a seat at the table where decisions are being made.
Earthworks joins affected communities in mourning the lives lost, calling for accountability and cleanup, and demanding a better path forward.