Highlights:
- A new database called the Global Tailings Portal pulls together information on 1,700 dams that store waste, or tailings, from mines around the world
- Around 100 publicly traded companies have shared information about their dams with GRID-Arendal, the Norwegian foundation that developed the database
- The portal’s creators say that much of the information, including the size, location, and risk factors associated with the included dams, hasn’t been publicly available before, even as catastrophic dam failures continue to occur
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“This portal could save lives,” Elaine Baker, a geosciences professor with the University of Sydney in Australia and senior expert at GRID-Arendal, said in a statement.

“With this information, the entire industry can work towards reducing dam failures in the future,” Baker added.Estimates vary widely about the number of tailings dams that exist around the world. GRID-Arendal figures there are somewhere between 3,500 and 33,000 active and inactive dams, including a number of “orphaned” dams where it’s not clear who is responsible for ensuring they don’t threaten local communities and ecosystems. Baker also noted that the characteristics of dams and what they contain have changed over time, increasing the need for more transparency.
“Dams are getting bigger and bigger,” Baker said. “Mining companies have found most of the highest-grade ores and are now mining lower-grade ones, which create more waste.”

“Most of this information has never before been publicly available,” Kristina Thygesen, who leads GRID-Arendal’s geological resources program, said in the statement.
The organization plans to continue to gather information from mining companies, including privately held ones.

“This database brings a new level of transparency to the mining industry which will benefit regulators, institutional investors, scientific researchers, local communities, the media, and the industry itself.”Originally published by Mongabay.
FAQ:
What is the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative?
Following the recent tailings dam failures, The Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative was established by a group of institutional investors active in the extractive industries representing more than $13.1 trillion in assets under management. Governed through a Steering Committee chaired by the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish Council of Ethics of the AP Funds, the group has called upon 727 extractive mining companies to disclose information in relation to their tailings storage facilities to form an online database.
How many companies have disclosed information about their TSFs?
As of the 20th of December 2019, 46 per cent of companies contacted responded to the request. 40 of the top 50 mining companies have made disclosures which has resulted in information about thousands of individual tailings dams being made public on company websites. All 23 of 23 publicly owned companies that are members of the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) responded and fully disclosed information about their TSFs.
How many tailings dams have had stability issues?
Company disclosures to investors have revealed that 10% (166 out of 1,635) of the tailings dams reported to have had stability issues in their history.
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