IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v63y2019ic40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why have so many tailings dams failed in recent years?

Author

Listed:
  • Armstrong, Margaret
  • Petter, Renato
  • Petter, Carlos

Abstract

The number of tailings dam failures has doubled in the past 20 years. Advances in mining technology have made it possible to exploit lower grade deposits despite decreasing commodity prices, which means disposing of more rejects and putting more pressure on tailings facilities. Our analysis of four recent tailings dam failures in countries with a strong mining tradition (Los Frailes in Spain, Mt Polley in Canada, Samarco and Brumadinho in Brazil), showed that production had been increased and/or cost cutting measures had been put in place before the accidents. In this paper, we postulate that the compensation packages offered to middle management which actively encourage managers to cut costs and increase production so as to increase their annual bonuses are a key factor in the rising number of serious accidents. Newmont Mining's compensation package contains a component that is equivalent to the options in traders' bonuses. As is well known, this led to excessive risk-taking in banks and hence to the subprime crisis and the global financial crisis. We argue that year after year managers keep taking risks with a low probability of occurrence but with potentially catastrophic consequences. These risks are compounded by shortages of experienced staff due to the cyclic nature of the industry and the retirement of the baby-boomer generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Armstrong, Margaret & Petter, Renato & Petter, Carlos, 2019. "Why have so many tailings dams failed in recent years?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:63:y:2019:i:c:40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142071830610X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101412?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mariane Paulina Batalha Roque & José Ambrósio Ferreira Neto & Wilson Cruz Vieira & Bianca Diniz Rocha & Arthur Telles Calegario, 2023. "Social vulnerability to environmental disasters in the Paraopeba River Basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(2), pages 1191-1210, September.
    2. Yıldız, Taşkın Deniz & Güner, Mehmet Oğuz & Kural, Orhan, 2024. "Effects of EU-Compliant mining waste regulation on Turkish mining sector: A review of characterization, classification, storage, management, recovery of mineral wastes," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. França Pimenta, Adriano Augusto & Demajorovic, Jacques & Saraiva de Souza, Maria Tereza & de Carvalho Pedro, Samara & Pisano, Viviane, 2021. "Social licence to operate model: Critical factors of social acceptance of mining in the Brazilian Amazon," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Carlos Cacciuttolo & Deyvis Cano, 2023. "Spatial and Temporal Study of Supernatant Process Water Pond in Tailings Storage Facilities: Use of Remote Sensing Techniques for Preventing Mine Tailings Dam Failures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-32, March.
    5. Sally Innis & Negar Ghahramani & Nahyan Rana & Scott McDougall & Stephen G. Evans & W. Andy Take & Nadja C. Kunz, 2022. "The Development and Demonstration of a Semi-Automated Regional Hazard Mapping Tool for Tailings Storage Facility Failures," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Paolo Mazzanti & Benedetta Antonielli & Alessandra Sciortino & Stefano Scancella & Francesca Bozzano, 2021. "Tracking Deformation Processes at the Legnica Glogow Copper District (Poland) by Satellite InSAR—II: Żelazny Most Tailings Dam," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Thiago Christiano Silva & Fabiano José Muniz & Benjamin Miranda Tabak, 2023. "The Impact of Government Disaster Surveillance and Alerts on Local Economic and Financial Conditions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(2), pages 559-591, February.
    8. Holley, Elizabeth A. & Smith, Nicole M. & Delgado Jimenez, Jeison Alejandro & Cabezas, Isabel Casasbuenas & Restrepo-Baena, Oscar Jaime, 2020. "Socio-technical context of the interactions between large-scale and small-scale mining in Marmato, Colombia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Saes, Beatriz Macchione & Muradian, Roldan, 2021. "What misguides environmental risk perceptions in corporations? Explaining the failure of Vale to prevent the two largest mining disasters in Brazil," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    10. Macedo, Suélem Viana & Valadares, Josiel Lopes & de Melo, James Rocha Rodrigues, 2021. "The formulation of Brazil's mineral policy: A multiple streams explanation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Cox, Benjamin & Innis, Sally & Mortaza, Adnan & Kunz, Nadja C. & Steen, John, 2022. "A unified metric for costing tailings dams and the consequences for tailings management," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Carlos Cacciuttolo & Alex Marinovic, 2023. "Experiences of Underground Mine Backfilling Using Mine Tailings Developed in the Andean Region of Peru: A Green Mining Solution to Reduce Socio-Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-27, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:63:y:2019:i:c:40. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.