The 2022 Jagersfontein Tailings Dam Collapse was a
structural failure
Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to ...
of a mine
tailings dam near
Jagersfontein, located in the
Free State province of South Africa, resulting in a
mudslide
A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...
.
Background
The
Jagersfontein Mine is currently the deepest hand-excavated hole in the world and is known for:
* the 972
carat (194.4 g)
Excelsior Diamond of 1893 and
* the 637
carat (127.4 g)
Reitz Diamond of 1895.
For the duration of the mine's operational history, it was run by
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
up to 1972, when it was deproclaimed. De Beers did however retain prospecting rights on the property until 2002.
Limited remining operations at the mine were eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op before it changed its name to Jagersfontein Development. Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022.
A court case, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd v Ataqua Mining (Pty) Ltd, related to historic dumps were found not subject to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. All standard National Environmental Management Act processes however still applied.
Tailings Dam Collapse
On 11 September 2022, the dam wall collapsed due to a structural failure.
About nine houses were swept away by the mudslide and more than 20 damaged.
Three bodies have been found buried under mud with up to 40 people been taken to hospital after sustaining injuries, with four people have been confirmed to be missing.
At 6:00am on 12 September 2022, Eskom was able to restore power to the town.
On 12 September 2022, President
Cyril Ramaphosa made a special visit to the town.
On the 28th September 2022, it was reported that a further collapse had occurred.
Related Links
*
Merriespruit tailings dam disaster
*
Piezometer Monitoring
*
Tailings dam
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jagersfontein dam collapse, 2022
2022 in South Africa
2022 disasters in South Africa
September 2022 events in Africa
Dam failures
Man-made disasters in South Africa
History of the Free State (province)