Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident

Initiatives to improve mine waste management

Breaking New Ground, Mining, Minerals, and Su Mining and Development, Global Mining, Large Mines a

Case studies on Tailings Management

Tailings Dangerous

Tailings Management: problems and solutions in the mining industry

Known mining accidents

1985 1986

1987

1988 1989

1992 1990 1991

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Other tailings-related accidents Non-tailings (or unknown type) failure Very serious tailings dam failures Serious tailings dam failures Other tailings dam failures

318

48

Casualties

26

20

20

12

10

8

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 1992

0

1985 1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Data source: Center for Science in Public Participation (www.csp2.org); Wise Uranium Project (www.wise-uranium.org).

Figure 3. Timeline illustrating major initiatives to improve mine waste management and reported tailings dam failures (data from

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