49 ‘dangerous occurrences’ at B.C. mine tailings ponds in past decade: ministry data

Dangerous occurrences at tailings storage facilities at mines in B.C. between 2000 and 2012 included a breach of a dike, the discovery of sinkholes and leaked tailings.
The vast majority of the dangerous occurrences involved incidents with equipment, which crashed, sunk into tailings storage facilities or flipped over. In several cases, workers were injured and two workers died.
The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines provided details of 49 dangerous occurrences at tailings ponds at the request of The Vancouver Sun following Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam collapse on Aug. 4.
The dam failure released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals into Quesnel Lake in central B.C., and has increased scrutiny at the province’s 98 tailings facilities, which store mine waste.
http://www.vancouversun.com/dangerous+occurrences+mine+tailings+ponds+past+decade+ministry+data/10148841/story.html