Disclosure hesitancy and disaster risk: A survey of tailings professionals in the global mining industry

Abstract

The global mining industry faces multiple, overlapping calls for greater levels of public disclosure about tailings facilities. Tailings professionals are pivotal to the industry’s public disclosure practice because they generate much of the information stakeholders are seeking. We surveyed 183 tailings professionals across the world to explore patterns of local-level information disclosure in mining. Most respondents had limited experience disclosing information publicly or engaging locally. Our findings raise questions about how the industry is engaging with local communities about disaster risk. Unless waste management practices evolve radically in coming decades, the predicted increase in global mining activity will coincide with an exponential increase in mine waste. Given the high-stakes nature of tailings facility failures, questions about public disclosure and disaster risk remain pressing.