Minerals Department to inspect Samancor tailings spill

THE Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) is expected at Samancor Chrome’s Dikwena operation near Brits on Monday after a tailings storage facility failure last week sent sludge spilling into neighbouring Eland Mine.The department’s visit comes after the incident at Dam 1B of Dikwena’s tailings storage facility on Thursday 13 August.Eland mine, including its Maroelabult section, is owned by Northam Platinum.Samancor’s Dikwena Chrome confirmed the incident at the weekend and said no injuries had been recorded.It said the facility was operated by contractor One Chrome and used by One Chrome’s Inyoni Platinum PGM recovery plant.“The incident is under investigation, and we are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities,” Dikwena Chrome said.Clean-up and repair work had begun, while further measures would be implemented once the investigation was completed, the company added.The spill damaged a railway line and Eskom power lines, while muddy material also entered a nearby river.The Department of Water and Sanitation and the Limpopo-Olifants Catchment Management Agency have launched an investigation into the incident, the Sowetan reported.Water samples have been collected and authorities are awaiting the results to determine the extent of the pollution, according to the newspaper.Regulation of tailings facilitiesThe incident puts renewed focus on the management and regulation of tailings storage facilities in South Africa following the catastrophic Jagersfontein failure in the Free State in September 2022.The dam collapse occurred on the premises of the Jagersfontein diamond mine, situated about 100 kilometres from Bloemfontein in South Africa’s Free State province.The Jagersfontein collapse caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure.The disaster also exposed uncertainty over the regulation of tailings facilities. Parliament was told after the Jagersfontein incident that the then Department of Mineral Resources and Energy did not have jurisdiction over that facility under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.The post Minerals Department to inspect Samancor tailings spill appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com