Nemc sends experts to assess dam breach at Mwadui diamond mine
What you need to know:
- Speaking to The Citizen, Nemc’s managing director, Dr Samuel Gwamaka, said Nemc experts had already arrived at the scene to analyse the level of damage that might have been caused by the disaster.
Dar es Salaam. The National Environment Management Council (Nemc) has dispatched a team of environmental experts as Petra Diamonds suspends operations at the Mwadui mine after a dam breach.
Earlier yesterday, the company said it had halted operations at its Williamson mine in Mwadui Shinyanga after a tailings storage facility burst, causing flooding in nearby areas.
Petra Diamonds owns 75 percent of Williamson Diamonds Limited, with the remaining shares owned by the government. Speaking to The Citizen, Nemc’s managing director, Dr Samuel Gwamaka, said Nemc experts had already arrived at the scene to analyse the level of damage that might have been caused by the disaster.
“We are aiming to avoid more flooding, as by yesterday, they had covered at least 8 kilometres of the area. So we are trying to avoid more spread of mud and mining waste,” he said, adding that the mud had damaged some of the houses and farmland that are now flooded.
“But together with regional teams, which include experts from the company, we are assessing the situation,” he said.
According to Petra, there were no injuries or fatalities confirmed so far, and the government, in collaboration with the mine emergency response teams, had mobilized to the site.
“While no injuries have been reported, any impact on the local communities would be viewed as a material negative from an ESG standpoint,” Berenberg bank analysts said in a note.
The company, which also operates three mines in South Africa, said the eastern wall of Williamson’s tailing dam was ‘breached,’ but the pit was not affected.
The diamond miner has worked hard to clean up its image in Tanzania. Last year, it achieved a £4.3 million (about $4.9 million) settlement with claimants alleging widespread human rights abuses, including beatings and detentions, at Williamson, which is Tanzania’s biggest diamond mine.
Petra, which has repeatedly denied the involvement of its own employees in the incidents, admitted that “regrettable” incidents took place at the mine in the past.
The clashes between locals and police resulted in “the loss of life, injury, and mistreatment of illegal diggers” within the mining license, it said last year.
Media reports indicated that in September, the closed diamond mine near Jagersfontein in South Africa’s Free State province suffered a tailings dam burst, killing one person and resulting in the loss of homes for people in the nearby Charlesville residential area.
Tailings facility failures attract especially negative headlines following the 2015 collapse of the Fundao Dam, owned by BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale, which killed 19 as more than 40 million cubic metres of mud and mining waste were released. Then, in 2019, Vale’s Brumadinho dam failed, killing 270 people.
