Jagersfontein tailings dam rupture leaves more questions than answers

As with many other situations when things go wrong in South Africa, the mine tailings dam rupture in Jagersfontein in the Free State leaves more questions than answers.

While the company managing the site, Jagersfontein Developments, has committed R20 million to assist those affected by the horrendous tsunami of toxic mud which enveloped part of the town, there are questions about its safety standards.

The mine was once part of the De Beers group, which mined diamonds there until it sold the operation more than 10 years ago. The current owners are a Dubai-based company which reportedly only bought the mine a few months ago.

The tailings dam and abandoned ore bodies are still a viable source of diamonds … but the operation is not officially a mine and therefore not subject to mining laws, according to some experts.

There are also suggestions that the operating company was advised to strengthen the walls of the tailings dam to avert a breach or collapse. Was this done? Was the dam “overloaded” in terms of the volume it had to hold back? Did the gem recovery operations affect the dam’s stability?

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These questions must be answered, given that there are scores of similar dams close to communities around our country. But the collapse has also highlighted the reality that South Africa is now paying the price for the wealth extracted from the bowels of the earth over more than 150 years.

Our ground waters are acidic, some of our soil has been poisoned and there are vast empty pockets below the surface of our country which occasionally show themselves in earth tremors.

Many mines have also been abandoned without being rehabilitated and are a target for illegal miners. Once a source of wealth for some, mining could become a source of anguish in our future.