Corporate claims that new mining projects don’t create mine waste don’t match up with current technology.
Recently, some companies have been claiming their mines are “zero tailings.” But that shift reflects public relations strategies more than a scalable technology shift.
The Future of Mine Waste: From the Myth of Zero Tailings to Real Solutions finds that “zero tailings” projects are not a reality anywhere in the world. Claims that projects are already using technology that fully eliminates waste stand in the way of open collaboration and truly safer tailings management.
That cooperation and trust is necessary for mining companies, communities, governments, investors, buyers, and other stakeholders to innovate and work together to safely manage mine waste.
The Future of Mine Waste analyzes and summarizes the technical report, Tailings Reduction Strategies: Fostering a Paradigm Shift in the Mining Sector.
Earthworks commissioned the technical report from AECOM, a leading global company specialized in environmental and infrastructure engineering. The AECOM team was led by Vice President and Brazil Country Director Vicente Mello.
Tailings Are Unavoidable with Current Technology
The report finds no evidence of operating mines that have eliminated tailings across all stages of production. Some companies have made progress towards significantly reducing and repurposing tailings.
Mining without generating tailings remains a theoretical long-term goal.
Mining Is Waste Management
Mine waste remains the biggest single environmental challenge for the industry. Mining creates huge amounts of toxic and nontoxic waste that remains forever. Reducing waste and managing it safely are global problems.
As mining depletes large mineral deposits and ore quality declines, the amount and toxicity of tailings are expected to increase.
Mining Companies Can Reduce Risk
Developing and implementing technologies that could truly eliminate tailings from mining would require an integrated approach. That would include improving technology, using all extracted materials, reusing tailings for other products, and safely remining waste to extract minerals that remain after processing.
Meanwhile, reducing demand for newly mined minerals would also reduce waste. The safest way to manage tailings is to not create them in the first place.
The steps outlined in Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management, a set of 17 guidelines endorsed by 164 scientists, frontline community groups, Tribal governments and civil society organizations from 32 countries, reduce risk to people and the environment wherever tailings are being produced.
Recommendations
Earthworks makes the following recommendations to prevent greenwashing while working towards a future where tailings represent less of a risk to people and the environment.
To all stakeholders:
- Challenge the perception of tailings as an inevitable outcome of mining and strengthen collective dialogue around production models that prioritize safety, responsibility, and alignment with the long-term, post-mining use of affected areas.
For investors and downstream purchasers of metals and minerals:
- Prioritize mining initiatives that implement integrated tailings reduction, reuse, and repurposing strategies alongside robust community engagement and environmental stewardship.
- Where mining companies use terms like “Zero Tailings,” leverage financial relationships to correct inaccuracies or cut financial ties.
For companies:
- Reframe “Zero Tailings” as a strategic horizon, not an immediate operational claim.
- Align corporate reporting with quantifiable, auditable performance indicators.
- Position tailings reduction as a core element of corporate sustainability and safety culture.
- Explicitly link tailings reduction to risk management and liability reduction.
Governments and regulatory authorities:
- Design and implement incentive frameworks that explicitly reward demonstrable reductions in mining-related liabilities, linking verified tailings reduction and long-term risk mitigation to tangible improvements for local communities, Indigenous Peoples and other rightsholders throughout the mining life cycle.
- Create spaces for collaboration and coordinated efforts between governments, research institutions, civil society and impacted communities, mining companies and supply chain actors to identify and promote circular approaches to waste management.