[Updated on Nov. 16 with additional satellite images] On Thursday, Nov. 5 in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, two mine waste impoundments at the Samarco iron mine failed, burying the nearby town of Bento Rodrigues and sending 62 million cubic meters of toxic sludge downstream – impacting villages and rivers up to 400 kilometers away. So […]
On August 5, more than 3,000,000 gallons of acidic, heavy-metal-laden mine waste from the Gold King Mine polluted the Animas River in southwestern Colorado. Ironically, the accident occurred while contractors for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were trying to plug a smaller leak from the inactive mine that was already polluting the river. This was […]
SkyTruth – Shepherdstown, WV: On Monday, August 4, 2014, an approximately 580 acre tailings impoundment failed at a Canadian gold and copper mine near Likely, British Columbia. The breach at Imperial Metal’s Mt. Polley mine dumped an estimated 1.3 billion gallons of toxic mine waste into the surrounding environment. On August 5, Landsat 8 acquired an image […]
This week for throwback Thursday (#TBT) we’re looking at gold mining in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. If this sounds familiar, then bonus skytruther points for you because we did in fact write about this region last fall. A recent crackdown on illegal mining inspired us to give this region another look, and show […]
We used to think only big commercial mining operations could have a significant environmental impact. These images gave us a schooling. The cumulative impact from many small, artisanal mining operations can result in just as big a mess as a conventional open-pit mine. As reported in The Guardian and captured on video by the Carnegie […]