Mine dam collapse - Jagersfontein

dlk001 said:

We don’t own the mine where dam burst in Jagersfontein: De Beers​


Mining company De Beers says it has not been the owner of the mine where a sludge dam burst in Jagersfontein in the Free State for more than ten years.

This follows a report that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said De Beers would have to take full responsibility for the damages caused.

Minister Mantashe has cited a 2007 court case regarding the mine. He says the ministry still does not agree with the ruling.

www.sabcnews.com

We don't own the mine where dam burst in Jagersfontein: De Beers - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.

Mining company De Beers says it has not been the owner of the mine where a sludge dam burst in Jagersfontein in the Free State for more than ten years.
www.sabcnews.com www.sabcnews.com
Click to expand...

That does not matter, you still have to abide by it.
 
Sjoe, it is a corporate f__kup of note.

Thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1568929900915998725

I don't think De Beers will have to pay, Jagersfontein Developments (pty), who bought the mine to process the dump for diamonds.

One quirk that makes the mine so valuable is that it’s not a mine. The owner mines the tailings dumps and a few years back the SCA ruled that that is not mining. This means that the MHSA and MPRDA do not apply. Nor does the Royalties Act which means they mine tax free.[/IMG]
Click to expand...
So the laws that apply to the mine and it’s safe operation are the laws that apply to industry, not the laws applying to mines, and the responsible authority is the Dept of Labour, which knows **** about mining. It’s basically a clusterf**k of note.
Click to expand...


It isn't a bad idea to make the claiming of resources processed from mine dumps tax free, good incentive to clean them up. But then the process should have to also include proper rehabilitation as part of the reward for not paying tax.
 
And of course, BEE oinkers were all involved.

De Beers has closed a transaction with Superkolong Consortium which has acquired all of De Beers’ assets (including its mine dumps) at Jagersfontein. De Beers had begun a thorough disposal process of the same in March 2010.

Superkolong is a broad-based BEE holding company for a number of mining operations including alluvial diamond operations. Shareholders include Manyatti Investments and Kolong Investments.

The deal acknowledged and met the criteria set by De Beers including technical, economic, community, technical competence, available funding to develop the new processing operation, BEE equity participation; employment creation and significant community based initiatives in an area where mining ceased almost 40 years ago.
Click to expand...
https://www.diamondworld.net/contentview.aspx?item=5359

They should have plenty of money to pay out victims.
 
Jeez this is bad. I wonder if there were chemicals and all sorts of toxic materials in there? Those owners should be sued for as much as possible.
 
OhYeah84 said:
Jeez this is bad. I wonder if there were chemicals and all sorts of toxic materials in there? Those owners should be sued for as much as possible.
Click to expand...

wingnut771 said:
Most definitely toxic sludge.
Click to expand...

The owner of the dam has thankfully said it isn't toxic.

Screenshot 2022-09-12 at 14.34.04.png

https://www.news24.com/news24/south...ine-dam-burst-disaster-in-free-state-20220912

Calling a mudslide "not hazardous" isn't really correct. It is f__king dangerous because it is going to obscure any hazard that the mud covers.
 
wingnut771 said:
If it's not toxic, then what is the purpose of the dam?
Click to expand...
If it were toxic or hazardous under the waste legislation the disposal area would need to be lined (usually with HDPE) although miners do get away with some relaxations but not for toxic or hazardous material disposal. Most likely the "dam" is just to dispose of the "slimes" from the mining operations. These slimes are just mined rock, crushed very finely and going through a process (sieving, sorting, extracting etc) to extract the commodity and many / most do not involve hazardous chemicals in sufficient concentrations for the slimes to be toxic (hazardous). The slimes are placed as a slurry and the dam system enables them to be built up above the ground. BUT, if the dryer slimes forming the dam wall aren't dry enough or too much slurry is placed (plus rain say) collapse can occur. This happens quite regularly - some very, very big ones in Brazil. Overall and interesting and specialist business needing well qualified and experienced engineers to manage, oversee, inspect, audit and certify. In SA getting one or two or maybe three out of five for those operations is not uncommon.
 
RedViking said:
I
Click to expand...

wingnut771 said:
If it's not toxic, then what is the purpose of the dam?
Click to expand...

The purpose of the dam is to store slimes generated from the beneficiation process. The chemical quality of the slimes differs depending on the mineralogy of the rocks, mining method and beneficiation process. Some contain hazardous substances and others are non-hazardous.

Mines around the world are looking at more environmentally sustainable ways of slimes disposal (where possible) including backfilling the old pits which is what this operation intended to do. However, the common method of disposal of mining waste is waste rock dumps and tailings dams.
 
Last edited:
Looks like a African win win. According to the cANCer
 
konfab said:
Sjoe, it is a corporate f__kup of note.

Thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1568929900915998725

I don't think De Beers will have to pay, Jagersfontein Developments (pty), who bought the mine to process the dump for diamonds.





It isn't a bad idea to make the claiming of resources processed from mine dumps tax free, good incentive to clean them up. But then the process should have to also include proper rehabilitation as part of the reward for not paying tax.
Click to expand...
Sooooo ... They took advantage of a gap in HSE regulation and now we have an accident. Colour me surprised.

Mmmm

Imagine we relaxed the regulations in the nuclear construction industry ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X