Tailings pond collapse affects world’s highest human settlement – by Staff (Mining.com – December 3, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

The collapse of a tailings facility in Peru’s Ananea district has destroyed a segment of the main road that connects the area with the neighbouring La Rinconada district, the highest human settlement in the world located in the southeastern Puno region.

According to local media, the San Antonio mining cooperatives are responsible for the maintenance of the tailings storage facility that collapsed on November 26.

As of Friday, December 3, 2021, emergency crews had identified 10 families who were affected by the breach and reported that 29 homes experienced severe damages. Most of the houses in the area are made of corrugated tin sheets. Municipal clean-up crews are working around the clock to remove the slush from those houses and nearby roads.

In a press release, the Puno regional government and the Regional Office for Risk Management and Security said that following the collapse, a broad inspection was carried out and a number of tailings ponds that were built on the district’s highlands by the local mining cooperatives were identified. They said that such artificial lakes pose a great risk for the people of Ananea.

For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/tailings-pond-collapse-affects-worlds-highest-human-settlement/