The gold mining industry is the bedrock our economy was built on. But with that it has generated billions of tons of mine waste over the past 120 years.
Tailings — a watery mixture of mineral particles created during the mining process, and which caused last weekend’s devastation in Jagersfontein in the Free State — will remain with us “in perpetuity”, says Mariette Liefferink of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.
It’s a statement that should make us sit up and take notice.
On the Witwatersrand there are more than 270 tailings dams. At the best of times, these sites are a source of dust and pollution. At worst, they can burst at the seams, literally.
Ask the Brazilian community of Brumadinho, where mudflow from an iron ore dam in 2019 swept through houses, farms and roads, killing 270 people. Or ask the community of Jagersfontein, who last week experienced flooding after the collapse of a tailings dam wall at the old De Beers mine, home to two of the world’s 10 biggest diamonds.
The wave of grey sludge killed at least one person and left hundreds injured and homeless. As cleanup operations got under way, no-one seemed certain as to who should be held accountable.
The department of mineral resources & energy said a 2007 court ruling, referring responsibility back to the original owners, meant it had no say over the management of tailings dams.
The mine’s current owner, Jagersfontein Developments, of the Dubai-based Stargems Group, is investigating the collapse.
The original owner, De Beers, has offered “technical assistance”. Not one party has taken responsibility.
De Beers ceased operations at Jagersfontein in 1971. Years later, it sold the mine along with its liabilities. This seems to be part of a bigger problem in the management of mine waste. Liefferink says it is common practice for non-operational mines to be sold to less-resourced companies. It relieves mining companies of the responsibility for problems related to mine closures.
The department has rightly undertaken to revisit the 2007 court ruling. Mining companies need to stop passing the buck and become actively involved in the management of their waste and rehabilitation funds.
Jagersfontein should serve as a warning to SA, where we have about 400 tailings dams and more than 6,100 non-operational mines.
This can happen again. Let Jagersfontein be the last such incident.
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