Jagersfontein mine near Bloemfontein - Free State
Originally a De Beers Group mine, Jagersfontein has been the site of diamond digging since the late 1800s and has produced some of the world’s largest rough diamonds, including the 972-carat “Excelsior.”
De Beers confirmed that it stopped mining on the site in 1971. In 2010, it sold Jagersfontein to the Superkolong Consortium, a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) holding company for a number of mining operations.
Slug dam wall burst on Sunday 11 September 2022.
Johann Rupert's Reinet sold Jagersfontein assets just months before deadly incident. The dam used to be owned by De Beers until it was sold to Superkolong Consortium in 2010.
Stargems Group, based in Dubai, this year acquired Jagersfontein Holdings, which ran the site used to process old tailings.
Free State dam disaster: Compensation for damage is the responsibility of company that owns it - Mantashe. Immediate threat 'stabilised' after tailings dam disaster in Jagersfontein - Dlamini Zuma.
The remains of three people were recovered - and 40 others were hospitalised after a dam wall which belongs to a mining company collapsed in Jagersfontein. Electricity supply was lost, and local cellphone towers were damaged.
The incident is not the first of its kind; almost 30 years ago, 17 people were killed in the Merriespruit tailings dam disaster.
Compensation for fatalities and damage to property, after the catastrophic fallout of the Jagersfontein mine dam collapse, will be the responsibility of the company that owns it, said Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.
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Sunday's "accident" was not the first of its kind, he explained, referencing the Merriespruit tailings dam disaster, which took place almost 30 years ago.
Seventeen people were killed in February 1994, when the tailings dam failed and subsequently flooded the neighbourhood in Virginia, Free State with 600 000m³ of water and slime.
"Therefore, that precedence is going to guide our action in dealing with this one," Mantashe said. "In other words, the company that is the owner, will take the bigger responsibility."
The dam used to be owned by De Beers until it was sold to Superkolong Consortium in 2010. Stargems Group, based in Dubai, this year acquired Jagersfontein Holdings, which ran the site used to process old tailings.
But Nathi Shabangu, a spokesperson for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, told the mine's dumps and slime still "belong" to De Beers, while the government's access has been restricted by a court order. The abandoned mine's tailings dam collapsed at about 06:00 on 11 September 2022.
The flow of water had stopped by Sunday afternoon, said Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
However, there had already been extensive damage.
Free State dam disaster: Immediate threat stabilised, rescue and relief operations underway. By nightfall, only two of the 82 patients hospitalised had not yet been discharged – a pregnant woman and a casualty who had suffered a fracture.
One person was killed, while one person is unaccounted for. The search will resume on Monday morning. According to Minerals Council South Africa, Jagersfontein diamond mine was shut down in the 1970s. The council and its members offered its assistance to the government, although it said it had no information about the ownership structure or the standard of management of the dumps.
"The Minerals Council has reached out to the South African authorities to offer whatever practical support and assistance the industry can provide regarding the Jagersfontein tragedy at this trying time," it said in a statement.
Residents of the mining town of Jagersfontein are being evacuated. The mine dam has burst, causing flooding in parts of the town.
Reports coming in indicate that several houses in the nearby Charlesville residential area have already collapsed. The main road leading into the town is also flooded.
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