The September 2022 Jagersfontein tailings dam failure marked a shift in South Africa’s regulatory approach to tailings management and a move from compliance-based oversight to enforcement-driven accountability, reports Johann Le Roux on behalf of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA).

The existing legal framework, anchored in the Mine Health and Safety Act, National Water Act and related environmental legislation, is already relatively mature, he notes.

“However, since 2022, regulators such as the Department of Water and Sanitation and Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources have increased inspections, issued directives and pursued criminal liability against individuals, not just companies,” adds Le Roux.

In tandem, alignment with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management has accelerated, especially among major mining houses.



There has also been an increase in the appointment of approved professional persons and third-party auditors for more technically rigorous oversight, says Le Roux; however, despite this, overlapping mandates, particularly for abandoned and re-mined facilities, continue to create complexity.

“Illegal mining poses an indirect but significant threat to tailings storage facility (TSF) stability and environmental containment,” he says, elaborating that activities such as excavation and tunnelling can compromise slope integrity, while uncontrolled water use increases pore pressures and reduces shear strength.

“In this sense, illegal mining acts as a risk multiplier, weakening multiple layers of defence simultaneously,” says Le Roux.

Further, informal tailings processing methods often involve hazardous substances, resulting in contamination of soil, groundwater and return water systems, he notes, adding that illegal mining and tailings processing is also linked to organised crime, which can restrict access for inspection and maintenance of a TSF.

In response, says Le Roux, the mining and tailings management industry has implemented security and engineering controls, including perimeter strengthening, surveillance technologies and coordinated law enforcement operations.

“Engineering measures such as slope armouring and improved water control are also being applied, but long-term mitigation will require addressing socioeconomic drivers and formalising artisanal mining,” he says.

Le Roux states that South Africa’s tailings landscape is increasingly being viewed as a secondary resource base, particularly in the historically gold-rich Witwatersrand Basin region. Here, he says, historical inefficiencies have left residual gold and uranium material, with companies such as DRDGOLD and Sibanye-Stillwater advancing large-scale retreatment operations.

“Projects such as Ergo and Far West Gold Recoveries are being closely watched as models of integrated economic and environmental value creation,” says Le Roux.