Chronology of major tailings dam failures – updated with Mount Polley
Posted On August 7, 2014
| Date | Location | Parent company | Ore type | Type of Incident | Release | Impacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014, Aug. 4 | Mount Polley mine, near Likely, British Columbia, Canada | Imperial Metals Corp.  |
copper, gold | tailings dam failure | 4.5 million m3 of tailings and 10 million m3 of water | tailings flowing into adjacent Polley Lake and, through Hazeltine Creek, into Quesnel Lake (Mitchell Bay) |
| 2014, Feb. 2 | Dan River Steam Station, Eden, North Carolina, USA | Duke Energy |
coal ash | collapse of an old drainage pipe under a 27-acre ash waste pond | about 82,000 short tons [74,400 t] of toxic coal ash and 27 million gallons [100,000 m3] of contaminated water | ash flowing through drainage pipe into Dan River |
| 2013, Nov. 15-19 | Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine , Kajaran, Syunik province, Armenia |
Cronimet Mining AG |
copper, molybdenum | damage of tailings pipeline | ? | tailings flowing into Norashenik River for several days |
| 2012, Dec. 17 | former Gullbridge mine site, Newfoundland, Canada | copper | embankment dam failure, width 50 m | non-consumption water advisory has been issued for the Town of South Brook (view details – Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment and Conservation) |
||
| 2012, Nov. 4 | Sotkamo, Kainuu province, Finland | Talvivaara Mining Company Plc |
nickel, (uranium by-product planned) | leak from gypsum pond through a “funnel-shaped hole” | hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of contaminated waste water | nickel and zinc concentrations in nearby Snow River exceeded the values that are harmful to organisms tenfold or even a hundredfold, uranium concentrations more than tenfold (view details) |
| 2011, Jul. 21 | Mianyang City, Songpan County, Sichuan Province, China | Xichuan Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant | manganese | tailings dam damaged from landslides caused from heavy rains | ? | tailings damaged residential roads and houses, forcing 272 people to leave; tailings were washed into the Fujiang River, leaving 200,000 people without drinking water supply |
| 2010, Oct. 4 | Kolontár, Hungary (Aerial View: Google Maps ) |
MAL Magyar Alumínium |
bauxite | tailings dam failure (view details) | 700,000 cubic metres of caustic red mud | several towns flooded, 10 people killed, approx. 120 people injured, 8 square kilometres flooded |
| 2010, Jun. 25 | Huancavelica, Peru | Unidad Minera Caudalosa Chica | ? | tailings dam failure | 21,420 cubic metres of tailings | contamination of río Escalera and río Opamayo 110 km downstream |
| 2009, Aug. 29 | Karamken, Magadan region, Russia | ? | gold | tailings dam failure after heavy rain (see background info – SRIC 2004) |
? | eleven homes were carried away by the mudflow; at least one person was killed |
| 2009, May 14 | Huayuan County, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, China | ? | manganese | tailings dam failure (capacity: 50,000 cubic metres) | ? | The landslide set off by the tailings dam failure destroyed a home, killing three and injuring four people. |
| 2008, Dec. 22 | Kingston fossil plant, Harriman, Tennessee, USA | Tennessee Valley Authority |
coal ash | retention wall failure | Release of 5.4 million cubic yards [4.1 million cubic metres] of ashy slurry | The ash slide covered 400 acres [1.6 square kilometres] as deep as 6 feet [1.83 metres]. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, covered Swan Pond Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt. |
| 2008, Sep. 8 | Taoshi, Linfen City, Xiangfen county, Shanxi province, China | Tashan mining company | iron | Collapse of a waste-product reservoir at an illegal mine during rainfall | ? | A mudslide several metres high buried a market, several homes and a three-storey building. At least 254 people are dead and 35 injured. |
| 2006, Nov. 6 | Nchanga, Chingola, Zambia | Konkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM) (51% Vedanta Resources plc ) |
copper | failure of tailings slurry pipeline from Nchanga tailings leaching plant to Muntimpa tailings dumps | ? | Release of highly acidic tailings into Kafue river; high concentrations of copper, manganese, cobalt in river water; drinking water supply of downstream communities shut down |
| 2006, April 30 | near Miliang, Zhen’an County, Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, China | Zhen’an County Gold Mining Co. Ltd. | gold | tailings dam failure during sixth upraising of dam | ? | The landslide buried about 40 rooms of nine households, leaving 17 residents missing. Five injured people were taken to hospital. More than 130 local residents have been evacuated. Toxic potassium cyanide was released into the Huashui river, contaminating it approx. 5 km downstream. |
| 2005, April 14 | Bangs Lake, Jackson County, Mississippi, USA | Mississippi Phosphates Corp. |
phosphate | phosphogypsum stack failure, because the company was trying to increase the capacity of the pond at a faster rate than normal, according to Officials with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (the company has blamed the spill on unusually heavy rainfall, though) | approx. 17 million gallons of acidic liquid (64,350 m3) | liquid poured into adjacent marsh lands, causing vegetation to die |
| 2004, Nov. 30 | Pinchi Lake, British Columbia, Canada | Teck Cominco Ltd. |
mercury | tailings dam (100-metres long and 12-metres high) collapses during reclamation work | 6,000 to 8,000 m3 of rock, dirt and waste water | tailings spilled into 5,500 ha Pinchi Lake |
| 2004, Sep. 5 | Riverview, Florida, USA | Cargill Crop Nutrition |
phosphate | a dike at the top of a 100-foot-high gypsum stack holding 150-million gallons of polluted water broke after waves driven by Hurricane Frances bashed the dike’s southwest corner | 60 million gallons (227,000 m3) of acidic liquid | liquid spilled into Archie Creek that leads to Hillsborough Bay |
| 2004, May 22 | Partizansk, Primorski Krai, Russia | Dalenergo | coal ash | A ring dike, enclosing an area of roughly 1 km2 and holding roughly 20 million cubic meters of coal ash, broke. The break left a hole roughly 50 meter wide in the dam. | approximately 160,000 cubic meters of ash | The ash flowed through a drainage canal into a tributary to the Partizanskaya River which empties in to Nahodka Bay in Primorski Krai (east of Vladivostok). For details download Sept. 2004 report (PDF) by Paul Robinson, SRIC |
| 2004, March 20 | Malvési, Aude, France | Comurhex (Cogéma/Areva) | decantation and evaporation pond of uranium conversion plant | dam failure after heavy rain in preceding year (view details) | 30,000 cubic metres of liquid and slurries | release led to elevated nitrate concentrations of up to 170 mg/L in the canal of Tauran for several weeks |
| 2003, Oct. 3 | Cerro Negro, Petorca prov., Quinta region, Chile | Cia Minera Cerro Negro | copper | tailings dam failure | 50,000 tonnes of tailings | tailings flowed 20 kilometers downstream the río La Ligua |
| 2002, Aug. 27 / Sep. 11 | San Marcelino, Zambales, Philippines | Dizon Copper Silver Mines, Inc. | overflow and spillway failure of two abandoned tailings dams after heavy rain (view details) | ? | Aug. 27: some tailings spilled into Mapanuepe Lake and eventually into the Sto. Tomas River Sep. 11: low lying villages flooded with mine waste; 250 families evacuated; nobody reported hurt so far |
|
| 2001, Jun. 22 | Sebastião das Águas Claras, Nova Lima district, Minas Gerais, Brazil | Mineração Rio Verde Ltda | iron | mine waste dam failure (view details) | ? | tailings wave traveled at least 6 km, killing at least two mine workers, three more workers are missing |
| 2000, Oct. 18 | Nandan county, Guangxi province, China | ? | ? | tailings dam failure | ? | at least 15 people killed, 100 missing; more than 100 houses destroyed |
| 2000, Oct. 11 | Inez, Martin County, Kentucky, USA | Martin County Coal Corporation (100% A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc. , Richmond, VA (100% Fluor Corp. )) |
coal | tailings dam failure from collapse of an underground mine beneath the slurry impoundment (view details) | 250 million gallons (950,000 m3) of coal waste slurry released into local streams | About 75 miles (120 km) of rivers and streams turned an irridescent black, causing a fish kill along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River and some of its tributaries. Towns along the Tug were forced to turn off their drinking water intakes. |
| 2000, Sep. 8 | Aitik mine, Gällivare, Sweden | Boliden Ltd. |
copper | tailings dam failure from insufficient perviousness of filter drain (view details) | release of 2.5 million m3 of liquid into an adjacent settling pond, subsequent release of 1.5 million m3 of water (carrying some residual slurry) from the settling pond into the environment | |
| 2000, Mar. 10 | Borsa, Romania | Remin S.A. | tailings dam failure after heavy rain | 22,000 t of heavy-metal contaminated tailings | contamination of the Vaser stream, tributary of the Tisza River. View Romanian Govt. report · UNEP report (527k PDF) |
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| 2000, Jan. 30 | Baia Mare, Romania | Aurul S.A. (Esmeralda Exploration , Australia (50%), Remin S.A. (44.8%)) |
gold recovery from old tailings | tailings dam crest failure after overflow caused from heavy rain and melting snow (view details) | 100,000 m3 of cyanide-contaminated liquid | contamination of the Somes/Szamos stream, tributary of the Tisza River, killing tonnes of fish and poisoning the drinking water of more than 2 million people in Hungary |
| 1999, Apr. 26 | Placer, Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Manila Mining Corp. (MMC) | gold | tailings spill from damaged concrete pipe | 700,000 tonnes of cyanide tailings | 17 homes buried, 51 hectares of riceland swamped |
| 1998, Dec. 31 | Huelva, Spain | Fertiberia , Foret |
phosphate | dam failure during storm (view details) | 50,000 m3 of acidic and toxic water | |
| 1998, Apr. 25 | Los Frailes, Aznalcóllar, Spain | Boliden Ltd. , Canada |
zinc, lead, copper, silver | dam failure from foundation failure (view details) | 4-5 million m3 of toxic water and slurry | thousands of hectares of farmland covered with slurry |
| 1997, Dec. 7 | Mulberry Phosphate, Polk County, Florida, USA | Mulberry Phosphates, Inc. |
phosphate | phosphogypsum stack failure | 200,000 m3 of phosphogypsum process water | biota in the Alafia River eliminated |
| 1997, Oct. 22 | Pinto Valley, Arizona, USA | BHP Copper |
copper | tailings dam slope failure |
230,000 m3 of tailings and mine rock | tailings flow covers 16 hectares |
| 1996, Nov. 12 | Amatista, Nazca, Peru | ? | ? | liquefaction failure of upstream-type tailings dam during earthquake | more than 300,000 m3 of tailings | flow runout of about 600 meters, spill into river, croplands contaminated |
| 1996, Aug. 29 | El Porco, Bolivia | Comsur (62%), Rio Tinto (33%) |
zinc, lead, silver | dam failure | 400,000 tonnes | 300 km of Pilcomayo river contaminated |
| 1996, Mar. 24 | Marcopper, Marinduque Island, Philippines | Placer Dome Inc. , Canada (40%) |
copper | Loss of tailings from storage pit through old drainage tunnel | 1.6 million m3 | Evacuation of 1200 residents, 18 km of river channel filled with tailings, US$ 80 million damage |
| 1995, Dec. | Golden Cross, New Zealand | Coeur d’Alène , Idaho, USA |
gold | Dam movement of dam containing 3 million tonnes of tailings (continuing) (view details ) |
Nil (so far) | Nil (so far) |
| 1995, Sep. 2 | Placer, Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Manila Mining Corp. | gold | Dam foundation failure | 50,000 m3 | 12 people killed, coastal pollution |
| 1995, Aug. 19 | Omai, Guyana | Cambior Inc. , Canada (65%), Golden Star Resources Inc., Colorado, USA (30%) |
gold | tailings dam failure from internal dam erosion (preliminary report on technical causation) | 4.2 million m3 of cyanide slurry | 80 km of Essequibo River declared environmental disaster zone (view details ) |
| 1994, Nov. 19 | Hopewell Mine, Hillsborough County, Florida, USA | IMC-Agrico |
phosphate | dam failure | Nearly 1.9 million m3 of water from a clay settling pond | spill into nearby wetlands and the Alafia River, Keysville flooded |
| 1994, Oct. 2 | Payne Creek Mine, Polk County, Florida, USA | IMC-Agrico |
phosphate | dam failure | 6.8 million m3 of water from a clay settling pond | majority of spill contained on adjacent mining area; 500,000 m3 released into Hickey Branch, a tributary of Payne Creek |
| 1994, Oct. | Fort Meade, Florida, USA | Cargill |
phosphate | ? | 76,000 m3 of water | spill into Peace River near Fort Meade |
| 1994, June | IMC-Agrico, Florida, USA | IMC-Agrico |
phosphate | Sinkhole opens in phosphogypsum stake | ? | Release of gympsum and water into groundwater |
| 1994, Feb. 22 | Harmony, Merriespruit, South Africa | Harmony Gold Mines | gold | Dam wall breach following heavy rain | 600,000 m3 | tailings traveled 4 km downstream, 17 people killed, extensive damage to residential township |
| 1994, Feb. 14 | Olympic Dam, Roxby Downs, South Australia | WMC Ltd. | copper, uranium | leakage of tailings dam during 2 years or more | release of up to 5 million m3 of contaminated water into subsoil | ? |
| 1993, Oct. | Gibsonton, Florida, USA | Cargill |
phosphate | ? | ? | Fish killed when acidic water spilled into Archie Creek |
| 1993 | Marsa, Peru | Marsa Mining Corp. | gold | dam failure from overtopping | ? | 6 people killed |
| 1992, Mar. 1 | Maritsa Istok 1, near Stara Zagora, Bulgaria | ? | ash/cinder | dam failure from inundation of the beach | 500,000 m3 | ? |
| 1992, Jan. | No.2 tailings pond, Padcal, Luzon, Philippines | Philex Mining Corp. | copper | Collapse of dam wall (foundation failure) | 80 million tonnes | ? |
| 1991, Aug. 23 | Sullivan mine, Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada | Cominco Ltd |
lead/zinc | dam failure (liquefaction in old tailings foundation during construction of incremental raise) | 75,000 m3 | the slided material was contained in an adjacent pond |
| 1989, Aug. 25 | Stancil, Perryville, Maryland, USA | ? | sand and gravel | dam failure during capping of the tailings after heavy rain | 38,000 m3 | tailings flowside covered 5000 m2 |
| 1988, Apr. 30 | Jinduicheng, Shaanxi province, China | ? | molybdenum | breach of dam wall (spillway blockage caused pond level to rise too high) | 700,000 m3 | approx. 20 people killed |
| 1988, Jan. 19 | Tennessee Consolidated No.1, Grays Creek, TN, USA | Tennessee Consolidated Coal Co. | coal | dam wall failure from internal erosion, caused from failure of an abandoned outlet pipe | 250,000 m3 | ? |
| 1988 | Riverview, Florida, USA | Gardinier (now Cargill ) |
phosphate | ? | acidic spill | Thousands of fish killed at mouth of Alafia River |
| 1987, April 8 | Montcoal No.7, Raleigh County, West Virginia, USA | Peabody Coal Co. (now Peabody Energy) |
coal | dam failure after spillway pipe breach | 87,000 cubic meters of water and slurry | tailings flow 80 km downstream |
| 1986, May | Itabirito, Minas Gerais, Brazil | Itaminos Comercio de Minerios | ? | dam wall burst | 100,000 tonnes | tailings flow 12 km downstream |
| 1986 | Huangmeishan, China | ? | iron | dam failure from seepage/slope instability | ? | 19 people killed |
| 1985, July 19 | Stava, Trento, Italy | Prealpi Mineraia | fluorite | dam failure, caused from insufficient safety margins and inadequate decant pipe construction (view details) |
200,000 m3 | tailings flow 4.2 km downstream at 90 km/h; 268 people killed, 62 buildings destroyed (view details) |
| 1985, Mar. 3 | Veta de Agua No.1, Chile | ? | copper | dam wall failure, due to liquefaction during earthquake | 280,000 m3 | tailings flow 5 km downstream |
| 1985, Mar. 3 | Cerro Negro No.4, Chile | Cia Minera Cerro Negro | copper | dam wall failure, due to liquefaction during earthquake | 500,000 m3 | tailings flow 8 km downstream |
| 1985 | Olinghouse, Wadsworth, Nevada, USA | Olinghouse Mining Co. | gold | embankment collapse from saturation | 25,000 m3 | tailings flow 1.5 km downstream |
| 1982, Nov. 8 | Sipalay, Negros Occidental, Philippines | Marinduque Mining and Industrial Corp. | copper | dam failure, due to slippage of foundations on clayey soils | 28 million tonnes | widespread inundation of agricultural land up to 1.5 m high |
| 1981, Dec. 18 | Ages, Harlan County, Kentucky, USA | Eastover Mining Co. | coal | dam failure after heavy rain | 96,000 m3 coal refuse slurry | the slurry wave traveled the Left Fork of Ages Creek 1.3 km downstream, 1 person was killed, 3 homes destroyed, 30 homes damaged, fish kill in Clover Fork of the Cumberland River |
| 1981, Jan. 20 | Balka Chuficheva, Lebedinsky, Russia | ? | iron | dam failure | 3.5 million m3 | tailings travel distance 1.3 km |
| 1980, Oct. 13 | Tyrone, New Mexico, USA | Phelps Dodge |
copper | dam wall breach, due to rapid increase in dam wall height, causing high internal pore pressure | 2 million m3 | tailings flow 8 km downstream and inundate farmland |
| 1979, July 16 | Church Rock, New Mexico, USA | United Nuclear | uranium | dam wall breach, due to differential foundation settlement | 370,000 m3 of radioactive water, 1,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment | Contamination of Rio Puerco sediments up to 110 km downstream |
| 1979 or earlier | (unidentified), British Columbia, Canada | ? | ? | piping in the sand beach of the tailings dam | 40,000 m3 of ponded water | considerable property damage |
| 1978, Jan. 31 | Arcturus, Zimbabwe | Corsyn Consolidated Mines | gold | slurry overflow after continuous rain over several days | 30,000 tonnes | 1 person killed, extensive siltation to waterway and adjoining rough pasture |
| 1978, Jan. 14 | Mochikoshi No.1, Japan | Mochikoshi Gold Mining Company | gold | dam failure, due to liquefaction during earthquake | 80,000 m3 | 1 person killed, tailings flow 7-8 km downstream |
| 1977, Feb. 1 | Homestake, Milan, New Mexico, USA | Homestake Mining Company |
uranium | dam failure, due to rupture of plugged slurry pipeline | 30,000 m3 | no impacts outside the mine site |
| 1976, Mar. 1 | Zlevoto, Yugoslavia | ? | lead, zinc | dam failure, due to high phreatic surface and seepage breakout on the embankment face | 300,000 m3 | tailings flow reached and polluted nearby river |
| 1975, June | Silverton, Colorado, USA | ? | (metal) | dam failure | 116,000 tonnes | tailings flow slide polluted nearly 100 miles (160 km) of the Animas river and its tributaries; severe property damage; no injuries |
| 1975, Apr. | Madjarevo, Bulgaria | ? | lead, zinc, gold | rising of tailings above design level caused overloading of the decant tower and collectors | 250,000 m3 | ? |
| 1975 | Mike Horse, Montana, USA | ? | lead, zinc | dam failure after heavy rain | 150,000 m3 | ? |
| 1974, Nov. 11 | Bafokeng, South Africa | ? | platinum | embankment failure by concentrated seepage and piping through cracks | 3 million m3 | 12 people killed in a mine shaft inundated by the tailings; tailings flow 45 km downstream |
| 1974, Jun. 1 | Deneen Mica, North Carolina, USA | ? | mica | dam failure after heavy rain | 38,000 m3 | tailings released to an adjacent river |
| 1973 | (unidentified), Southwestern USA | ? | copper | dam failure from increased pore pressure during construction of incremental raise | 170,000 m3 | tailings traveled 25 km downstream |
| 1972, Feb. 26 | Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, USA | Pittston Coal |
coal | collapse of tailings dam after heavy rain (view Citizens’ Commission report ) |
500,000 m3 | the tailings traveled 27 km downstream, 125 people lost their lives, 500 homes were destroyed. Property and highway damage exceeded $65 million. (see details ) |
| 1971, Dec. 3 | Fort Meade, Florida, USA | Cities Service Co. | phosphate | Clay pond dam failure, cause unknown | 9 million m3 of clay water | tailings traveled 120 km downstream with Peace River, large fish kill |
| 1970 | Mufulira, Zambia | ? | copper | liquefaction of tailings, flowing into underground workings | some 1 million tons | 89 miners killed |
| 1970 | Maggie Pie, United Kingdom | ? | china clay | dam failure after raising the embankment and after heavy rain | 15,000 m3 | tailings spilled 35 meters downstream |
| 1969 or earlier | Bilbao, Spain | ? | ? | dam failure (liquefaction) after heavy rain | 115,000 m3 | major downstream damage and loss of life |
| 1968 | Hokkaido, Japan | ? | ? | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake | 90,000 m3 | tailings traveled 150 meters downstream |
| 1967, Mar. | Fort Meade, Florida, USA | Mobil Chemical | phosphate | dam failure, no details available | 250,000 m3 of phosphatic clay slimes, 1.8 million m3 of water | spill reaches Peace River, fish kill reported |
| 1967 | (unidentified), United Kingdom | ? | coal | dam failure during regrading operations | ? | tailings flow covered an area of 4 hectares |
| 1966 | (unidentified), East Texas, USA | ? | gypsum | dam failure | 76,000 – 130,000 m3 of gypsum | flow slide traveled 300 meters; no fatalities |
| 1966 | Derbyshire, United Kingdom | ? | coal | dam failure from foundation failure | 30,000 m3 | tailings traveled 100 meters downstream |
| 1966, Oct. 21 | Aberfan, Wales, United Kingdom | Merthyr Vale Colliery |
coal | dam failure (liquefaction) from heavy rain | 162,000 m3 | the tailings traveled 600 meters, 144 people were killed (view details , watch video ) |
| 1966, May 1 | Mir mine, Sgorigrad, Bulgaria | ? | lead, zinc, copper, silver, (uranium?) | dam failure from rising pond level after heavy rains and/or failure of diversion channel | 450,000 m3 | the tailings wave traveled 8 km to the city of Vratza and destroyed half of Sgorigrad village 1 km downstream, killing 488 people. (View details · historic photographs ) |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | Bellavista, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure during earthquake | 70,000 m3 | tailings traveled 800 meters downstream |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | Cerro Negro No.3, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure during earthquake | 85,000 m3 | tailings traveled 5 km downstream |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | El Cobre New Dam, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake | 350,000 m3 | tailings traveled 12 km downstream, destroyed the town of El Cobre and killed more than 200 people |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | El Cobre Old Dam, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake | 1.9 million m3 | |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | La Patagua New Dam, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake | 35,000 m3 | tailings traveled 5 km downstream |
| 1965, Mar. 28 | Los Maquis, Chile | ? | copper | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake | 21,000 m3 | tailings traveled 5 km downstream |
| 1965 | Tymawr, United Kingdom | ? | coal | dam failure from overtopping | ? | tailings traveled 700 meters downstream, causing considerable damage |
| 1962 | (unidentified), Peru | ? | ? | dam failure (liquefaction) during earthquake and after heavy rainfall | ? | ? |
| 1961 | Tymawr, United Kingdom | ? | coal | dam failure, no details available | ? | tailings traveled 800 meters downstream |
tonnes = metric tonnes
Note: Due to limited availability of data, this compilation is in no way complete, source Wise-Uranium, image from CBC
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