Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe says tailings dams are a mining issue and must be treated as part of mining operations, not as a water issue.
Mantashe visited Samancor Dikwena Chrome in Brits on Monday following the failure of a sidewall at the mine’s tailings facility last Thursday. No fatalities were reported.
“We are very lucky that there is no fatality. Let’s start from there. Nobody is dead; there is a disaster, but there is no death. That we must accept.
“But managing slime dams cannot be treated as a water issue. It is a mining issue, inherently linked to the core mining operations and structural accountability,” Mantashe said.
His comments echo those he made following the Jagersfontein tailings disaster in the Free State in 2022.
At the time, Mantashe criticised a 2009 High Court decision which he said put tailings dams outside the mining department’s control.
“It deprived this company and this mine [of the] opportunity to have regular mining inspectors visiting it,” he said during a visit to Jagersfontein.
The latest incident occurred at Compartment 1B of the Dikwena tailings facility after its northern wall collapsed, releasing almost all of the tailings stored in the compartment, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The department said the material was stopped from reaching the R566 by a railway embankment and berms at neighbouring Eland Mine.
However, the incident damaged mine infrastructure, the railway line and Eskom power lines and polluted an unnamed tributary. Water samples have been taken and laboratory results are pending.
Northam Platinum told MiningMX earlier that the tailings spill had not materially affected operations at its Eland mine, despite sludge flowing onto its property.
Meanwhile, the department has instructed the mine to stop depositing tailings in any of its tailings dams while the investigation continues.
Mantashe and Deputy Water and Sanitation Minister David Mahlobo met mine management, were briefed on the incident and inspected the affected area.
Samancor noted in a statement over the weekend that the facility is operated by contractor One Chrome and is used by One Chrome’s Inyoni Platinum PGM recovery plant.
On Monday, Samancor CEO Desmond McManus told news reporters at the site that the company was taking responsibility for the investigation, clean-up and rehabilitation, according to a Jacaranda FM report.
The company was repairing electrical infrastructure and access roads and would appoint an independent professional to assess the facility and its impact.
The DMPR said investigations into the exact technical and operational causes of the failure are under way.
