IT'S been over a year since the collapse of the wall of the tailings dam in Jagersfontein, Free State.
The homes of the community living below the dam were engulfed in toxic sludge, leaving two people dead and a woman missing.
The Department of Water and Sanitation Dam Safety Regulation director, Wally Ramokopa, said their department is responsible for dams' safety regulations.
"When the dam collapsed on 11 September 2022, we went to the site. And upon arriving on site, we issued a verbal directive instructing the mine to start decommissioning the dam.
"We also appointed an approved professional person who must advise the mine on how to decant the other compartment because, at the Jagersfontein facility, they have two compartments," said Ramokopa.
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He said he and a senior engineer from their department did an aerial inspection a day after the incident happened and noticed that compartment two still had some tailings, and they saw some cracks on the wall, which showed that the compartment was at risk.
"We instructed the mine to empty the contents of that compartment into a nearby pit bigger than the one in Kimberley. Based on the volume that we've seen, our indication is that they're removing 500 metres per day of the compartment, which may mean they could be reaching 40% in April next year with the current rate of pumping that they're doing," Ramokopa said.
He said their priority is the safety of the people and to ensure that the incident does not happen again.
Ramokopa said that because compartment two still has tailings and cracks on the wall, it still poses a danger.
"We have asked the Jagersfontein Development officials to do a dam bridge analysis, a simulation computer that predicts what will happen should the different sides of the compartment wall on the north side fail and how the tailings flow that might affect the houses and at what rate.
He said, unfortunately, the results of the dam analysis show there might be a significant loss of lives should compartment two collapse. We couldn't declare the compartment to be safe. There is still a risk," he said.
