As residents of Merriespruit in the Free State province settled in for bed on the 22nd of February 1994, a wall of mud and water was heading their way and when a man-made disaster collided with the quiet suburb of Virginia, only devastation was left in its wake.
When gold-bearing rock is processed and the gold is extracted, the remaining material is moved to tailings dams as waste, as was the case at the Merriespruit No. 4 facility.
Late in the afternoon on the day of the failure, a thunderstorm occurred and about 50 mm of rain fell within 30 minutes. When the dam failed, 600 000 m³ of liquid flowed 4 km. The nearest houses were located 300 m downslope of the dam; when the wave of water and tailings reached them, it was 2.5 m high.
Seventeen people were killed and there was widespread devastation and environmental damage. Eighty houses were destroyed
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SHOWNOTES:
Host: Nicole Engelbrecht
Producer: Nicole Engelbrecht
Music: Snippet (with permission) from Prime Circle’s Evidence
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