TAILINGS DAMS VICTORIA
Risk to the Victorian Community from gold mine tailings storage facilities
currently in use or effectively abandoned on current mining licences
Gold mining companies that have current mining licences are mainly located in Central Victoria.
All have tailing storage facilities with one or more upstream lift tailings dams that are the highest risk category.
The mines are listed in order of risk for loss of life if a dam was to breach (fail catastrophically).
1. Stawell
- privately owned
- 60 to 200 residents at extreme risk
- gold production is limited and unlikely to be sustainable without exploration success
- rehabilitation bond is ~ $5m – our rehabilitation estimate is $200-$300 million
- features recurring section notices to manage pollution of groundwater due to seepage from tailings dam
2. Ballarat
- privately owned – status unclear, it is probably still under administration
- 3 tailings dams at capacity with no attempt to rehabilitate
- application for a planning permit for an additional tailings dam has been withheld by VCAT for several months ~10 residents at high risk / 200 residents medium risk
- rehabilitation bond ~ $5m
3. Fosterville
- Canadian owned
- 10 residents high risk and a school bus route
- two tailings dams in a localised seismic activity zone
- storage of more than 30,000 tonnes of arsenic in this unstable environment creates an extreme risk to the water quality/availability in the Middle Lower Murray for agriculture and domestic purposes
4. Costerfield
- Canadian owned
- produces gold/antimony concentrate that is shipped to China
- 4 tailings dams with moderate/high ecological risk to the Goulburn/Murray system
- there is a risk of tailings flooding underground mine workings
- reoccurring Section 110 notices for the pollution of farming environments, including antimony pollution of Costerfield rainwater supplies
- depleted ore reserves
- Planning application with State Minister for additional $80 million tailings dam
- not credible that production would justify expenditure
- rehabilitation bond $5m
- no attempt to rehabilitate legacy tailings dams
5. Maldon
- private ownership
- single tailings dam has medium risk to commuter traffic
- arsenic content creates high ecological risk to Loddon River
- rehabilitation bond ~ $1m
6. Kangaroo Flat & Woodvale
- mining licences have reverted to land manager, Earth Resources
- risk from dam collapse is low/moderate
- risk to human health from heavy metal dust emissions is high
A1 (Gippsland) & Inglewood
- ecological rather than human risk
Mine Waste Resources
Mine waste dams threaten the environment, even when they don’t fail
THE CONVERSATION
The looming risk of tailings dams
REUTERS
Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management
EARTHWORKS
Safety guidelines
and good practices
for tailings management facilities
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE
GLOBAL INDUSTRY STANDARD ON TAILINGS MANAGEMENT
globaltailingsreview.org
Lessons from Tailings Dam Failures – Where to Go from Here
DAVID JOHN WILLIAMS
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