Cost of Jagersfontein Diamond Tragedy "Nears $30m"
October 19, 22
(IDEX Online) - The cost of the Jagersfontein tailings dam collapse will be close to $30m, says Richard Spoor, a South African activist and human rights attorney.
He is representing 30 of the families living in the shadow of the former De Beers diamond mine who suffered when homes were swept away by a mountain of grey sludge that killed at least two people.
"I've been advised by the farmers and their attorney that every fish, every frog, every crab, in that water is dead. Everything was destroyed," he told Mail & Guardian.
More than 350 homes were wrecked when the tailings dam, holding tons of waste from historic diamond mining, collapsed on 11 September.
Spoor estimates the total cost of rebuilding homes, replacing contents, compensating farmers, rebuilding waterworks, an electrical substation and other infrastructure could top R500m ($27.5m).
Two people are known to have died in the collapse at Jagersfontein, about 60 miles from Bloemfontein, in Free State province, and a third is still missing, presumed dead.
The Jagersfontein mine was closed by De Beers in the 1970s and is now owned by Dubai-based Stargems.
The tailings dam was closed in 2020, according to a Reuters report, due to high water levels, but was allowed to re-open last year.
Pic courtesy @GovernmentZA shows a home devastated by the dam burst