DAMSAT: An Eye in the Sky for Monitoring Tailings Dams
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE
DAMSAT: An Eye in the Sky for Monitoring Tailings Dams Darren Lumbroso1 · Marta Roca Collell1 · Gregor Petkovsek1 · Mark Davison1 · Ye Liu1 · Craig Goff1 · Mark Wetton1 Received: 12 February 2020 / Accepted: 22 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract During the past decade, there have been a number of catastrophic tailings dam failures. Affordable monitoring systems, as well as methods to assess the risk posed to communities living downstream of these structures, are needed. In recent years the availability and accuracy of remote sensing information has increased, whilst its cost has decreased. This paper provides an overview of DAMSAT, a web-based system that brings together Earth observation and other data to help governments and mining companies monitor tailing dams, and estimate the downstream risks they pose. The methods developed are being piloted in Peru at a number of tailings dams, with the overall goal of improving the decision making process and sharing of information with respect to managing these structures. Engagement with Peruvian stakeholders has shown that DAMSAT provides tools that can help government authorities both reduce the risks and increase the sustainability of mining. Keywords Remote sensing · Risk assessment · Tailings dams
Introduction Transparency in the extractive sector is needed to improve governance, reduce corruption, prevent environmental harm, and capture the benefits of mining within countries whose economies are reliant on it (Ayee et al. 2011; Condon 2017; Leonard 2017; Sachs and Warner 2001; Palú and Julien 2019). The origins of the movement towards transparency date back to the late 1990s and the need to put an end to resource conflict and, what has come to be known as, the “resource curse” (Sachs and Warner 2001). The sudden discovery of precious resources in low income countries can trigger conflict when the wealth generated is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people (Dale 2019; McDevitt 2017); this has led to violence in a number of countries including Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Peru. A review of 52 empirical studies found that industrial mining was frequently linked to increased poverty in low income countries (Gamu et al. 2015). Over the long term, research has found a strong relationship between mineral wealth and a decline in democracy in low income countries with fragile governments (Dale 2019). Much of the solution to the resource curse can be found in increased transparency and accountability (Dale 2019). * Darren Lumbroso [email protected] 1
HR Wallingford, Howbery Park, Oxfordshire, Wallingford OX10 8BA, UK
Many governments in low income, and some high income countries, lack the technical expertise and resources that large mining companies have (Aguirregabiria and Luengo 2016; Franks 2015). This makes it challenging for environmental regulators and governments to hold mining companies to account. The wage differences between government and multinational
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