List of tailings dam failures

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The following table lists the largest tailings dam failures by volume of substance released. The released substance may be water or tailings, or, as is most often the case, a considerable quantity of both.

Tailings dam Type of dam

A tailings dam is typically an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue. Tailings can be liquid, solid, or a slurry of fine particles, and are usually highly toxic and potentially radioactive. Solid tailings are often used as part of the structure itself.

NameReleased volume [103 m3]Date of failureCountryEnvironmental consequencesReservoir volume [103 m3]Dam typeNotes
Padcal No. 280,000 [1]
32,000 [2] 		1992
January 2		PhilippinesDamaged "large tracts of prime agricultural land"; mine paid penalties to provincial treasury of Pangasinan. [3] 80,000 [4]  Copper mine. Dam wall collapsed. [5]
Mariana dam disaster
(Bento Rodrigues, Samarco) [6] 		60,000
32,000 [5] 		2015
November 5		BrazilSignificant contamination of Rio Doce and Atlantic Ocean.55,000 [5]  Iron ore tailings [7] Flávio Fonseca de Carmo, Luciana Hiromi et. al say 43x106 m3 of tailings released, which was 80% of the stored volume. [2]
Brumadinho dam disaster 12,0002019 January 25BrazilMetals in tailings to be incorporated into rivers' soil.EarthIron ore tailings.
Ajka alumina plant accident 10002010 October 4HungaryThe waste extinguished all life in the Marcal river, alkaline mud reached the Danube   Red mud
Sipalay30,000 [8] [9] 1982
Nov. 8 [10] 		Philippines"Widespread inundation of agricultural land up to 1.5 m high"37,000 [5]  Dam failure, due to slippage of foundation [11]
Mount Polley 15,000 [12]
23,600 [5] 		2014
August 4		Canada 74,000 [13]  4.5 Mm3 water, 10 Mm3 metals-laden tailings, plus interstitial water in tailings.
American Cyanamid11,400 [14] 1962U.S.A.Acidic water flowed into a wetland called Hooker's Prairie. It was contained there and limed before discharge into South Prong of Alafia River.Phosphate, Florida. [5]
Padcal No. 3 5,000-10,0002012
August 3		PhilippinesBalog and Agno Rivers heavily polluted.250,000 [15]
102,000 [5] 		 Copper mine [5]
Pinchi Lake 6,000-8,0002004
Nov. 30		CanadaTlatzen First Nation alleges mercury has destroyed fishery in the lake.  Mercury mine waste containment dam collapses. [16] [5]
Payne Creek Mine 6,8001994
Oct 2		U.S.A.   Water from a clay settling pond. Majority of release contained on adjacent mining area; 500,000 m3 escaped into a creek [11]
Doñana disaster 4,500
6,800 [5] 		1998
April 25		Spain 15,000 [5]  Acidic tailings containing heavy metals
Omai mine 4,2001995
August 19		Guyana 5,250 [5]  Gold mine. Tailings release contained cyanide.
Kingston power plant 4,1002008
Dec. 22		U.S.A.Heavy metals; large fish kill; town inundated;  Fly ash slurry from a coal-fired power plant.
Balka Cuficheva 3,5001981
January 20		Soviet Union 27,000 [5]  Iron. [11]
Los Cedros 1,500-3,000 [17] 1937
May 27		Mexico> 300 human fatalities25,000 (estimate) [18]  Silver and gold mine. [17]
Quinette, Maemot2,500 [5] 1985CanadaRiver valley filled with waste for 2.5 km. [5]   Coal mine.
Rio Pomba Cataguases2,0002007
10 January		Brazil   Bauxite (Aluminum) mine [5]
Tyrone, New Mexico 2,0001980
Oct. 13		U.S.A.Tailings flow 8 km downstream and inundate farmland.  Copper mine. [11]
Hopewell Mine 1,9001994
Nov 19		U.S.A.Spill into wetlands and Alafia River  Water from a clay settling pond [11]
Merriespruit 690 [19] 1994
February 22		South AfricaSlurry travelled 2 km, covering about ​1⁄2 km2. 17 fatalities.7,040 [5]  Gold mine. [20]
2008 Shanxi mudslide 2008China

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1992 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in the year 1992.

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Mariana dam disaster iron ore tailings dam failure in Brazil, disaster which occurred on 5 November 2015

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Obed Mountain coal mine spill

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The Padcal tailings spills of August-September 2012 were a series of mine tailings spills which occurred, beginning on 1 August 2012, from Tailings Pond 3 of the Philex Mining Corporation's Padcal mine in Benguet Province, Philippines.

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References

  1. ↑ AGHAM – Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC), and Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) "Environmental Investigation Mission on the Impacts of the Philex Mining Corporation (PMC) Mine Tailings Pond 3 Failure TECHNICAL REPORT" ,  2013. Page 2 (7/28). Accessed June 2018.
    Harvey Wood, 2012. Disasters and Minewater. IWA Publishing. Page 36. Accessed via EbscoHost e-book publisher.
    Wise Uranium, 2018. "Chronology of Major Tailings Dam Failures"   gives outflow as 80 million tonnes.
  2. 1 2 Flávio Fonseca de Carmo, Luciana Hiromi, and others, 2017. "Fundão tailings dam failures: the environment tragedy of the largest technological disaster of Brazilian mining in global context"  Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation Volume 15, Issue 3, July–September 2017, Pages 145-151
  3. ↑ Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and others, September 2012. "The Philex Mine Tailings Spill Of 2012: An Independent Fact Finding Mission Report" , p 18/26. Accessed July 2018.
  4. ↑ International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), 2001 Tailings Dams Risk of Dangerous Occurrences   P 95. Gives storage and released amounts both as 80 million tonnes. Accessed July 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Center for Science in Public Participation, "Tailings Dam Failures, 1915-2016"   Accessed June 2018.
  6. ↑ United Nations, Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident "Report Summary"   Accessed June 2018.
  7. ↑ United Nations. No date. "Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident", pp 6-7. amazonaws.com
  8. ↑ Wise Uranium, "Chronology of Major Tailings Dam Failures"   (2018) gives release size as 28 million tonnes. Thus the volume would be 28 million cubic metres if it was all water, and more if the release included tailings solids, which is likely.
  9. ↑ Source gives amount as 28 million tonnes. See also the CSP2 table of tailings dam failures ,   lines 375-6, which gives a conversion factor of 1.6 (volume/mass).
  10. ↑ Bulatlat.com
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Mineral Policy Institute Chronology of major tailings dam failures
  12. ↑ Jennni Sheppard, "Imperial Metals was warned about height of wastewater in tailings pond most recently in May" CBC News, August 5, 2014
  13. ↑ Center for Science in Public Participation, "Tailings Dam Failures, 1915-2016"
    Adam, NASA Earth Observatory, 17 August 2014."Dam Breach at Mount Polley Mine in British Columbia"   Both articles accessed June 2018.
  14. ↑ Hi Tech Solutions, 2000. "Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Neutralizing Accidental Spills of Acidic Waste From Holding Ponds"  , p. 5. Accessed June 2018.
  15. ↑ Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and others, September 2012. "The Philex Mine Tailings Spill Of 2012: An Independent Fact Finding Mission Report" , p 18/26, cites Philippines DENR as estimating the stored tailings mass as 163 million tonnes. Specific gravity of tailings is typically about 1.6 according to Centre for Science in Public Participation, "Tailings Dam Failures, 1915-2016", op. cit. Accessed July 2018.
  16. ↑ Mining Watch "We Want to Make Cominco Responsible: Tlatzen Nation"
  17. 1 2 J L Macias, P Corona-Chavez, and others, 2015. "The 27 May 1937 catastrophic flow failure of gold tailings at Tlalpjahua, Michoacán, Mexico", Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 15, pp 1069-1085. Abstract Full pdf   The document is open source. Retrieved June 2018.
  18. ↑ The source gives an estimate of 14.7 million tons. Multiplying this by a typical specific gravity for tailings of 1.6, as suggestd by the Center for Science in Public Participation, "Tailings Dam Failures, 1915-2016" (op. cit.) gives approximately 25 million cubic metres of volume.
  19. ↑ May have been more like 2,000 Mm3. See ICOLD 2001, op cit.
  20. ↑ Michael P Davies, "Tailings Impoundment Failures: Are Geotechnical Engineers Listening?" Geotechnical News, September 2002. http://www.pebblescience.org/pdfs/Dam_failuresDavies2002.pdf
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