Half of the world's largest miners do not follow their tailings risk management measures – report

Following the disaster at the mining dam Córrego do Feijão in Vale (NYSE: VALE), which left at least 140 people dead, the Amsterdam-based Responsible Mining Foundation issued a statement highlighting its 2018 Report on Responsible Mining Development for Tailings. dams.

According to the report, many of the largest mining companies in the world are not able to "know and show" how effectively they address the risks of failure and seepage of waste rock dykes.

"The 30 mining companies evaluated in the 2018 RMI recorded an average of only 22% in monitoring, reviewing and improving residue risk management, with Vale's rating slightly above average . Fifteen of the 30 companies have shown no evidence of their effectiveness in managing these risks. And while 17 companies showed signs of reviewing the effectiveness of their residue risk management measures, none of these companies publicly disclosed how much they had taken systematic action. based on these residue risk reviews, "reads the document.

The RMF indicates that the information sharing gaps of many miners are not limited to their tailings dams. In general, the organization's study revealed that most companies did not share information properly about how they manage social and environmental risks. In particular, they are unable to provide meaningful performance information at the site level.

"Too often, workers, mining-affected communities, governments and investors are aware of the risks and the extent to which companies manage these risks. Businesses may be reluctant to publicly disclose potentially damaging and sensitive information, but it is the workers and communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on adequate safeguards, "reads the report. .

"Decommissioning and removal of upstream dams and transfer of residues to safer storage facilities would require enormous transparency and costs, so government regulators and investors should support these efforts"

The Responsible Mining Foundation is convinced that public disclosure would not only save thousands of lives, but also improve the safety of mining projects by enabling the community to benefit from expert advice, which would translate into better knowledge of the field.

On the basis of a 2001 report from the International Commission on Large Dams, which revealed that it would have been possible to avoid 221 failures from dam dikes, the RMF says that in Really integrating the contributions of all stakeholders into the design, planning and construction phases of their projects, miners can learn to refrain from mining in areas where Tailings storage is most likely to occur and achieve a common goal of zero defects for tailings storage facilities.

Research by the foundation, on the other hand, has shown that large, large and steep tailings dams were at risk of failure in the tropics, where seismic activity and extreme weather events could occur. precipitate their collapse.

In the case of the Vale plant, the RMF explained that it was constructed as part of a series of dams built upstream of the original dyke, making it the most likely.

"Vale is now committed to decommissioning all the dams built according to the upstream method and other companies can clearly do the same," suggested the NGO.