Mine Waste Spills: UN Calls For Better Community Protections

BILLINGS, MT — A slew of mining waste disasters — some deadly — over the past 10 years are evidence that communities downstream of massive polluted material storage sites need better protections, the UN environment program said. A United Nations Environment Programme report released this week tallied 40 major mining accidents in the past decade. Most involved dams or other pollution storage areas that failed.

Among them was a 2015 dam collapse at a Brazilian iron-ore mine that killed 19 people and the Gold King Mine disaster in the U.S. that spilled pollution into rivers in three Western states.

The accident rate has dropped, the report said, but the consequences are growing more severe as waste impoundments become larger.

There are an estimated 30,000 industrial mines worldwide and many more abandoned mines that continue to spew pollution.

Photo credit: Brennan Linsley/Associated Press