MechChem Africa May-June 2025

The evolving landscape of tailings storage facilities Tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are increasingly being viewed as valuable resources that demand careful stewardship: rather than mere waste repositories. Lili Nupen of NSDV Law talks about the regulatory reforms that reflect this view.

T ailings storage facilities (TSFs) are structures built to store the leftover materials and waste from mining operations, colloquially known as tailings. These facilities are critical components of the mining lifecycle, storing the fine waste particles and water slurry produced during mineral processing. TSFs represent significant environmental, social and safety risks, particularly if not managed effectively. South Africa, with its vast mining industry, is home to an extensive network of TSFs, some of which are among the largest in the world. The value of TSFs is increasingly promi nent in the modern era as technological advances enable the profitable extraction of valuable minerals from historic mine waste. These facilities, once viewed solely as environmental liabilities, are increasingly recognised as valuable ore bodies that can be re-processed using modern extraction methods and technologies to recover pre viously inaccessible minerals. The practice of re-mining or processing tailings not only creates new revenue streams but also offers environmental benefits by removing his toric waste deposits and potentially harmful materials from the landscape. Essentially, it helps to make more money and do more good! The associated risks TSFs pose potentially devastating risks, primarily due to the potential for struc tural failure or mismanagement, leading to pollution of the surrounding areas. The disastrous collapse of the slime dam TSF in Jagersfontein in the Freestate is a recent example of how the mismanagement of TSFs can impact upon the environment and surrounding communities. “The collapse of this slimes dam – a dam designed to store mining by-products – washed away homes and cars, flooding the town with a toxic torrent of mine waste and mud,” says Lili Nupen, co-founder of NSDV Law and head of environmental and mining law. “The risks associated with TSFs, highlighted by the catastrophic col lapse of the Jagersfontein slimes dam, have prompted the proposed amendments to the

framework governing TSFs in South Africa,” she adds. In addition, the recent collapse of the Sino Metals tailings dam in Chambishi on 18 February 2025 has undermined global safety efforts while exposing a critical paradox: our growing need for mining despite its dangers. The disaster released 50-million litres of acidic waste into the Mwambashi River, cutting water access for 500 000 Kitwe residents and contaminating farmland already stressed by last summer's severe El Niño drought. The balance between these risks and benefits is shaping the evolving regulatory landscape, with both international stan dards and local laws adapting to ensure that TSFs are managed more safely and sustainably. The EIA amendments The proposed amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EMA) Regulations, 2014, and the associated Listing Notices (Proposed EIA Regulation Amendments) were published for public comment in December 2024. The Proposed EIA Regulations amendments represent a significant shift in South Africa’s approach to TSF management, reclassifying TSFs from waste to resource, reflecting their potential value rather than treating them solely as

disposable waste material. The Proposed EIA Regulation Amendments work in tandem with NEMA (National Environmental Management Act) by virtue of the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Act, 2022 (NEMLA4), which amended NEMWA to specifically exclude residue stockpiles and residue deposits from the scope of ‘waste’, providing that it will be regulated, instead, under NEMA. The amendments propose to include activities related to the expansion and rec lamation of historical mine dumps, where a ‘historical mine dump’ is defined as any debris, discard, residues, tailings slimes, slurry, waste rock, foundry sand, beneficia tion plant waste, ash or any other product derived from or incidental to a prospecting or mining operation which does not require a right or permit under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (MPRDA). Proposed MPRDA amendments The regulatory framework governing TSFs is undergoing significant reform. Beyond the Proposed EIA Amendments, proposed amendments to the MPRDA will play a key Lili Nupen, co-founder of NSDV Law and director for Mining and the Environment at the firm.

TSFs represent significant environmental, social and safety risks, particularly if not managed effectively.

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2025