Academician and mining expert Professor Peter Chileshe has warned that dry and decommissioned tailings dams, such as the Kitwe and Uchi dams in Kitwe on the Copperbelt, may pose a risk of periodic pollution and potential disaster if stronger waste management measures are not enforced.
Professor Chileshe says while there is no immediate cause for alarm, facilities in Kitwe, Solwezi, Mufulira, and Chingola need to be revisited under enhanced regulations and subjected to aggressive waste management to prevent contamination of water bodies and other avoidable incidents.
He has cited the Kitwe tailings facility located behind the High Court in Nkana East as one that requires proactive attention, warning that neglect could lead to preventable accidents similar to the 1970 Mufulira mine disaster where 89 people, both Zambians and expatriates, lost their lives after a tailings dam collapsed due to neglect.
Professor Chileshe explains that some old facilities may shift due to liquefaction under certain conditions, posing risks of movement in tailings dams across the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces adding that the reactive nature of oversight, such as the case recorded at Sino Metals, continues to expose the country to preventable mining disasters.
The Dean in the School of Mines at the Copperbelt University -CBU- has also noted that although legislation already exists to guide mining operations within safety, health, there is an urgent need to strengthen aspects relating to design, construction, monitoring, and implementation of tailings dams and broader mining waste management systems.
PHOENIX NEWS