Publications
Partners
SA mining employers body the Minerals Council says its members will check up on the status of their waste dams in light of the collapse of a mine dam in Brazil that caused 99 deaths with many more unaccounted for.
The dam, which stores mine waste called tailings, collapsed at the Corrego de Feijao mine in Brumadinho on Friday.
In a statement the council said all its members should "review their tailing storage facilities construction, maintenance and operating protocols, in order to ensure the stability and safety of these facilities and the surrounding communities."
The council also sent its condolences to the people of Brazil and those affected by the collapse.
Tailing dams have failed in the past in South Africa. In 1994 a section of a wall of a tailings dam outside the small Free State tow of Virginia collapsed, flooding the suburb of Merriespruit and causing 17 deaths.
