Polyus discusses tailings safety at MINEX Russia 2020

On 8 October 2020, Polyus was pleased to present at the MINEX Russia 2020 conference. Daria Grigorieva, Head of Sustainable Development, represented Polyus at the event, discussing the industry’s reaction to current sustainability priorities.

In her presentation, which focused on the safe management of tailings dams in the mining sector, Daria addressed the following points, in addition to providing an overview of sustainable mining practices at Polyus:

• Several major tailings disasters have taken place in the industry in recent years, including the 2019 tailings dam collapse in Brumadinho in Brazil, which tragically killed 270 people.
• Tailings disaster prevention measures are often inadequate. Daria noted that, in a study undertaken by the International Commission on Large Dams of 221 disasters in the industry in 2001, all were found to have been preventable.
• Following the Brumadhinho disaster, the investor mining and tailings safety initiative was launched, including a mass request for information on tailings safety disclosure, and the establishment of the Global Tailings Summit and Industry Standard for the Safe Management of Tailings.
• ICMM have initiated the development of Global industry Standard on Tailings Management which was published on 5 August 2020. Polyus took active part in the development of the Standard.

Commenting on her participation in the conference, Daria Grigorieva said:

“Polyus is committed to contributing towards the conversation on sustainable practices in our industry, and to sharing best practice experiences. MINEX 2020 provided an excellent opportunity for us to further the dialogue on tailings dam safety within the mining sector.”