On 7 November 2022 Petra announced that the eastern wall of the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) at Williamson was breached, resulting in flooding away from the pit which has extended into certain areas outside of the Mine Lease Area, although the main portion of the tailings were contained by the New Alamasi water dam – which sits within the Mine Lease Area.
No major injuries or fatalities were reported with emergency response teams providing temporary accommodation and humanitarian aid to those affected.
Environmental work to date confirms the tailings material which flowed out of the TSF is inert.
Investigations into the cause of the breach and assessments on the environmental, social and economic impact is ongoing as well as analysis to ascertain appropriate measures for the clean-up or remediation of affected areas.
Production has been temporarily suspended whilst the Company investigates the root cause of the failure mechanism and explores options to recommence operations safely and as soon as possible. In the interim, and to minimise the overall/medium term impact of the lost production, planned maintenance is being brought forward along with accelerated waste stripping.
Production is currently expected to resume at the beginning of FY 2024.
Petra will continue to update the market as more information becomes available, with updates to date provided below:
21 February 2023 – Update regarding TSF wall breach at Williamson
17 January 2022 – Update regarding Tailings Storage Facility wall breach at Williamson in Tanzania
30 November 2022 – Update regarding Tailings Storage Facility wall breach at Williamson in Tanzania
10 November 2022 – Update regarding Tailings Storage Facility wall breach at Williamson in Tanzania
7 November 2022 – Tailings Storage Facility wall breach at Williamson in Tanzania
