Author: Giovanni Puccio

On 30th January 2000 at 22:00 hrs, a breach in the tailings dam of the Aurul S.A. Baia Mare Company, released some 100,000 m3 of cyanide-rich tailings waste into the river system near Baia Mare in north-west Romania (Maramures district). This spill released an estimated 50-100 tonnes of cyanide, as well as heavy metals, particularly copper, into the rivers Somes, Tisza and finally into the Danube before reaching the Black Sea. Aurul S.A. is a stock company, jointly owned by “Esmeralda Exploration Ltd.”, Australia, and the Romanian “Compania Nationala a Metalelor Pretiosasi si Neferoase”, established in 1992. The company processes

The Aznalcóllar pyrite mine tailings dam, which stored mining sludge and waste, is near Seville, in southern Spain. On 25th April 1998, its reinforcing wall collapsed releasing thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the surrounding countryside, including the River Guadiamar, which flows directly into the marshlands of Coto Doñana. As a consequence of the mine’s retention wall failure, 2 million m3 of highly toxic pyrite sludge and another 4 million m3 of acid water leaked into Spain’s treasured Doñana National Park, a major haven for migratory birds on their way between Africa and Europe. As an

The Buffalo Creek flood was an accident that occurred on 26th February 1972 when coal slurry impoundment dam 3 built on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia (USA), by the Pittston Coal Company collapsed. In the days preceding February 26th, rain fell almost continuously, although experts later claimed this was typical for late winter weather in the area. Buffalo Mining officials, concerned about the condition of the highest dam, measured water levels every two hours the night of the 25th. Although a Pittston official in the area was alerted to the increasing danger, the residents of the hollow were

On Friday, 21st October 1966, at 9:15 a.m., colliery waste tip number 7 (containing waste rock from the local coal mine) slid down Merthyr Mountain in South Wales (Great Britain). As it collapsed, it destroyed twenty houses and a farm in the small village of Aberfan, before going on to demolish virtually all of Pantglas junior school and part of the separate adjacent senior school. The pupils had just left the assembly hall, after a music lesson, when a great noise was heard outside. Had they left for their classrooms a few minutes later, the loss of life would have

On 28th March 1965, at 12:35 p.m. two tailings dams serving a copper mine in El Cobre district (Chile) suddenly collapsed. (Picture: A copper mine impoundment in the Andes.) The small copper mining town of El Cobre in the path of the flow was annihilated with over 200 deaths occurring. This failure was triggered by a 7.5 Richter magnitude earthquake. The first impoundment (Antiguo) was commissioned in 1930, but after a new (Nuevo) dam was constructed in 1963, the Antiguo (old) dam was used only periodically as a standby. The dyke had been built by upstream hydraulic filling, and the

At 22:39 hours of 9th October 1963, a vast landslide involving some 270 million cubic metres of rock and debris was set in motion from the slope of Mt. Toc and collapsed into the artificial reservoir of Vaiont (in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy). The impact on the water surface generated a big wave which in a few seconds wiped out a large area on the opposite slope and downstream of the dam, destroying most of the village of Longarone (in Venetia) and parts of other villages in the River Piave valley. 1910 persons were killed in what to date

At 13:15 hours of 13th August 1935, following very heavy rainfalls, one of the two dams which formed the large hydroelectric reservoir of Molare, in Valle Orba (Piedmont, Italy), collapsed together with a portion of the foundation rocks. The mudflow that poured out of the breach caused the death of some 110-115 persons and very serious damage to several villages and infrastructures of the valley. This hydraulic barrage gave way under the push of a mass of water and mud assessed as 20 to 25 million cubic metres. The mudflow thus generated ran down the whole valley destroying everything on

On 1st December 1923, the failure of the Gleno dam caused a huge disaster, which devastated the Scalve valley in the province of Bergamo in Lombardy (northern Italy). From the reservoir at 1500 m a.s.l., 6 million cubic metres of water, mud and debris poured down the slope as far as Lake Iseo in just half an hour. 356 people lost their lives, although the final toll of victims is still uncertain. At 7:15 hours, the central pylon of the dam collapsed and the imposing mass of water poured over the valley, destroying everything that it encountered in its path,