WATCH | Power lines damaged, river polluted after dam wall collapses at Brits mine

A railway line and Eskom power lines were damaged and a river was polluted when the wall of a dam at Samancor’s Dikwena Chrome mine near Brits collapsed, resulting in waste material stored there spilling out and flowing onto the road.

The waste was prevented from flowing towards the R566 provincial road by a railway line embankment and some berms (earthen barriers) at the adjacent Eland Mine.

This has since prompted an investigation by the water and sanitation department and the Limpopo-Olifants catchment management agency.

The department’s spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa, said the dam breach occurred at about 5.30 pm on Thursday, with authorities confirming that almost all the tailings (waste materials left after valuable minerals are extracted during mining) and slimes stored in one of the facility’s compartments were released.

😱😱😱😱 What’s happening in Brits bafethu?? pic.twitter.com/XVtcb5y37y— TheMechanic (@MmMolale) August 15, 2026

Mavasa said the northern wall of compartment 1B “collapsed and failed, releasing almost all the tailings/slimes which were stored in the compartment”.

The scene at Samancor’s Dikwena Chrome mine after a tailings storage facility breached, releasing almost all the stored slimes from one compartment. (DWS) (Supplied) She said no casualties were reported following the incident; “however, there was some damage to the mine’s infrastructure, the railway line, Eskom’s power lines and pollution of an unnamed tributary”.

Water samples have been collected from the affected area, with authorities awaiting the results to determine the extent of the pollution.

Engineers from the water and sanitation department’s specialist unit for dam safety regulation, together with officials from the catchment management agency and the department of mineral and petroleum resources, were dispatched to the site following notification of the breach.

Mavasa said teams are assessing the impact of the failure and investigating what caused the facility to collapse.

“[The water and sanitation department] has issued a verbal directive to the mine to cease with the deposition of tailings in any of their tailings dams while investigations on the failure of the facility are being carried out.

“The minister continues to urge mining houses that own dams which meet the minimum requirements to be classified as dams with a safety risk as defined in the National Water Act to register their tailings dams in order for the department to effectively play its oversight role,” Mavasa said.

In September 2022, a tailings dam wall burst at a mine in Jagersfontein in the Free State. It released a flow of the sludge to a nearby residential area, leaving 40 people injured. More than 200 people had to leave their homes because of the disaster. One person died while another went missing and was never found.