Photos show a 1.3-km failure of material down a slope after “a very deep-seated rotational failure in the heap leach,” Dave Petley, author of The Landslide Blog, a leader in landslide analysis, said by email.
“This needs rapid action to secure the site, in particular ahead of any rainfall,” Petley told The Northern Miner.
“There are a few worries now. The first is the potential for release of sediment or fluids beyond the mine boundary – a pollution incident. The second is the possibility of further mobilisation of the landslide mass, in particular as flow failure. The third is the possibility of a further failure of the heap leach – the rear scarp of the main rotational landslide is very steep, so instability is possible.”
Petley, vice-chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, annotated this image below of the mine site, shot from a plane by The Northern Miner on Tuesday.
