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Reported tailings dam failures. A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context

Rico, M. / Benito, G. / Salgueiro, A.R. / Diez-Herrero, A. / Pereira, H.G.

A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economical consequences and environmental impacts. Europe ranks in second place in reported accidents (18 %), more than one third of them in dams 10 m - 20 m high. In Europe, the most common cause of failure is related to unusual rain, whereas there is a lack of occurrences associated with seismic liquefaction, which is the second cause of tailings dam breakage elsewhere in the world. Moreover, over 90 % of incidents occurred in active mines, and only 10 % refer to abandoned ponds. The results reached by this preliminary analysis show an urgent need for EU regulations regarding technical standards of tailings disposal.

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Reported tailings dam failures. A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context

Rico, M. / Benito, G. / Salgueiro, A.R. / Diez-Herrero, A. / Pereira, H.G.

A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economical consequences and environmental impacts. Europe ranks in second place in reported accidents (18 %), more than one third of them in dams 10 m - 20 m high. In Europe, the most common cause of failure is related to unusual rain, whereas there is a lack of occurrences associated with seismic liquefaction, which is the second cause of tailings dam breakage elsewhere in the world. Moreover, over 90 % of incidents occurred in active mines, and only 10 % refer to abandoned ponds. The results reached by this preliminary analysis show an urgent need for EU regulations regarding technical standards of tailings disposal.

Reported tailings dam failures. A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context

Rico, M. / Benito, G. / Salgueiro, A.R. / Diez-Herrero, A. / Pereira, H.G.

A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economical consequences and environmental impacts. Europe ranks in second place in reported accidents (18 %), more than one third of them in dams 10 m - 20 m high. In Europe, the most common cause of failure is related to unusual rain, whereas there is a lack of occurrences associated with seismic liquefaction, which is the second cause of tailings dam breakage elsewhere in the world. Moreover, over 90 % of incidents occurred in active mines, and only 10 % refer to abandoned ponds. The results reached by this preliminary analysis show an urgent need for EU regulations regarding technical standards of tailings disposal.

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Title:

Reported tailings dam failures. A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context

Contributors:

Rico, M. (author) / Benito, G. (author) / Salgueiro, A.R. (author) / Diez-Herrero, A. (author) / Pereira, H.G. (author)

Published in:

Journal of Hazardous Materials ; 152 ; 846-852

Publication date:

2008

Size:

7 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 32 Quellen

ISSN:

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.07.050

Type of media:

Article (Journal)

Type of material:

Print

Language:

English

Keywords:

Absetzen (Bodensatz) , Abgänge , Abgängedeponie , Absetzbecken , Damm , Unfallstatistik , Technikgeschichte , Europa , Umweltrisikoanalyse , Schadensanalyse , Katastrophenfall , statistisches Verfahren , Regen

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