Mantashe, Mahlobo conduct on-site inspection of Samancor tailings facility following sidewall collapse
Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe and Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo have conducted a joint oversight visit to ferrochrome and manganese producer Samancor’s Dikwena Chrome facility, in Brits, in the North West, following the structural collapse of a sidewall at the mine’s tailings facility that occurred on August 13.
During the visit, the Ministers met with mine management, received a briefing on the operational dynamics surrounding the event and inspected the affected area to evaluate environmental impacts and infrastructure disruptions.
Expressing concern and reiterating government’s commitment to the principle of zero harm, Mantashe acknowledged the fortunate absence of fatalities while sharply focusing on the need for system accountability and regulatory compliance.
“We are very lucky that there is no fatality. Managing slime dams cannot be treated as a water issue. It is a mining issue, inherently linked to the core mining operations and structural accountability,” he highlights.
Meanwhile, Mahlobo adds that tailings infrastructure must maintain total structural integrity across every phase of operation.
The Department of Water and Sanitation says it has deployed teams, alongside specialised dam safety engineering units, to conduct thorough water quality sampling, containment checks and environmental risk assessments to safeguard surrounding communities and mitigate downstream impacts.
Investigations on the exact technical and operational causes of the sidewall failure remain active and ongoing.
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