How many people have died from dam failures globally?
How many people have died from dam failures globally?
The WISE Uranium project [65] estimated that between 1961 and 2019 at least 2375 people lost their lives from tailings dam disasters globally.
What is the difference between mine waste and tailings?
Waste rock is bedrock that has been mined and transported out of the pit but does not have metal concentrations of economic interest. Tailings are the finely ground residuals that remain after the mill process has removed the valuable metals from the ore.
What does Red Chris Mine mine?
The Red Chris copper-gold mine is located approximately 80km south of Dease Lake in north-west British Columbia, Canada. The project development comprises an open pit mine and a 30,000t capacity mill, which processed more than 193,000t in February to produce approximately 2,400t of copper concentrate.
What are the effects of tailings ponds on the environment?
This short term assessment has found evidence for a physical impact on the Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and a portion of Quesnel Lake near Hazeltine Creek. A chemical change has also occurred, but the findings of the geochemical testing indicates that the tailings mixture is relatively inert.
When did the tailings dam fail at Mount Polley?
Tailings dam failure. A tailings dam failure at the Mount Polley Mine occurred on August 4, 2014 resulting in the loss of about 17 million cubic meters of water and 8 million cubic meters of tailings/materials into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake having significant impact.
How big is the tailings pond at Mount Polley?
Local residents are calling it an environmental disaster. A breach of the tailings pond on Mount Polley Mine sent five million cubic metres of toxic waste into Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake, with fears it could spread far and wide in the coming days.
How tall is the tailings pond at Copper Mountain?
At 155 metres high, the Copper Mountain mine’s tailings pond dam is already four times taller than the Mount Polley mine tailings dam, which caused the largest mining spill in Canadian history when it failed in 2014.