A third of mines don’t meet tailings rules: ICMM

A new report finds 33% of mines around the world operated by two dozen leading companies don’t fully meet industry standards for tailings management.

Yet two-thirds of 836 facilities are in full compliance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, the London-based International Council on Mining and Metals says in the report.

The council and UN agencies established the standard in 2020 to encourage miners on tailings performance after a dam burst a year earlier on Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Feijão iron ore operation, killing 270 people downstream in the world’s worst mining disaster in recent decades.

The 2015 Vale and BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) Samarco failure and the 2022 Jagersfontein tailings dam collapse in South Africa add to the toll. While the West’s newfound focus on critical minerals is helping the industry’s image, tailings disasters contributed greatly to anti-mining sentiment in recent decades and remain a cornerstone of environmental complaints. 

The council’s progress report doesn’t explicitly state which of the group’s 26 member companies aren’t fully compliant, but it does list their disclosures to the council. A review of these disclosures by The Northern Miner found many majors — such as China’s MMG, Glencore (LSE: GLEN), BHP, French uranium miner Orano and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) — still have several mines not meeting the standard. 

Compliance

Meantime, companies such as Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK), Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Gold Fields (NYSE, JSE: GFI), and Vale have relatively clean compliance logs. So do AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU), Boliden (STO: BOL), Codelco, Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW; NYSE: SBSW) and Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B).  

Full alignment with the standard, which was supposed to be achieved by August 2023 for the tailings sites that could produce the most damage, is taking longer than expected, the council said. The deadline for the rest was Aug. 5. this year. Council members remain committed to the goal, it added. 

Globally, an estimated 13 billion tonnes of tailings are generated at mine sites each year, the council noted in the report. They are typically stored in engineered containment structures (tailings facilities), which often resemble dams or embankments that hold the slurry-like rock, soil and associated water.

Over 80% of facilities classified as having “extreme” or “very high” consequences are fully compliant. Facilities graded as “high”, “significant”, or “low” consequence show conformance rates between 53–65%. 

Disclosures

MMG’s latest statement lists seven facilities that still only “partially meet” the standard across its copper and zinc portfolio. These include Las Bambas TSF1 in Peru, a facility classed as extreme in the risk category; Kinsevere TSF2 and TSF3 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, classed as extreme and very high, respectively. 

Glencore’s Altay and Zhairem tailings storages in Kazakhstan, operated by subsidiary Kazzinc, remain only partially compliant with the standard, including measures to help Zhairem withstand earthquakes, according to the company’s filing. In South Africa, Glencore’s Rustenburg TSF B also lags in compliance for seismic issues. 

BHP counts nine tailings facilities “partially aligned,” including one, the legacy Solitude TSF near Globe, Ariz., now classed “extreme.” BHP runs active risk-reduction works at Solitude including a major buttress project.

Orano’s legacy sites still show gaps. In France, its Bois Noirs Limouzat is flagged as of extreme consequence and is moving from a water to a dry cover pending an environmental approval. The Digue des Fouilloux facility, also in France, and Mounana in Gabon retain “does not meet” items on their standards checklists. 

Anglo American’s copper arm shows third-party validation still in progress at Pérez Caldera and El Torito in Chile, while its Kumba unit in South Africa flags work outstanding at Sishen Old Protea and Kolomela. The company’s De Beers unit says its Voorspoed fine residue deposits need work. 

Mali

Barrick says it can’t assure the Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali is compliant after the government seized control this year. In the United States, Barrick’s Grants reclamation project – a small tailings pile in New Mexico – is partially delinquent with a plan to reach full compliance by 2028.

Newmont reports that it’s working on full compliance at two sites. Ahafo North in Ghana has a new tailings facility where breach modelling is being done and an emergency response plan is being finalized as construction advances. At Merian in Suriname, the company is developing an emergency response plan for a stage two tailings facility classed as a very high consequence dam.   

African Rainbow Minerals (JSE: ARI) has two conditions partially met at Modikwa in South Africa while the other 67 measures are compliant. At Two Rivers’ De Grooteboom facility, there four “partially meet” requirements while Bokoni’s consolidated TSFs 1–5  has 17 not fully compliant. ARM says third-party reviews and action plans are underway to close the gaps. 

Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) flags “a handful” of outstanding items at some tailings sites. It says the rest of its standards work is largely in place and advancing “progressively.”