International Council on Mining and Metals releases Tailings Progress Report

[Ben Graham]

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has published its Tailings Progress Report, detailing member companies’ progress in implementing the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).  

Tailings are a by-product of mining, consisting of processed rock or soil, often containing residual chemicals, left over from the separation of the commodities of value from the material within which they occur. 

Globally, an estimated 13 billion square tonnes of tailings are generated at mine sites each year, ICMM noted in the report. They are typically stored in engineered containment structures (tailings facilities), which often resemble dams or embankments that hold the slurry-like rock, soil, and associated water.  

As often-permanent features of the mining landscape, tailings facilities must remain structurally and environmentally stable over the long term, ICMM said, adding that poor design, construction, or management can lead to surface and groundwater contamination, adverse impacts to human health and biodiversity and, in severe cases, catastrophic structural failure that can result in death and environmental destruction.  

In response to the Brumadinho tailings facility failure in 2019 that claimed 272 lives, ICMM, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) co-convened an independent process that resulted in the development of the GISTM, which launched in August 2020. 

When the GISTM was published in 2020, ICMM members committed that all applicable tailings facilities with an ‘extreme’ or ‘very high’ consequence classification would conform with the GISTM  by August 2023, and all other applicable facilities by August 2025. 

The GISTM Tailings Progress Report provides an aggregate overview of disclosed conformance with the GISTM for all applicable tailings facilities operated by ICMM members as of August 5 2025.  

Key findings  

The report found that 67% of 836 member facilities are now in full conformance with GISTM; 33% remain in partial conformance. 

Over 80% of facilities classified as having ‘extreme’ or ‘very high’ consequences are fully conformant. Facilities with ‘high’, ‘significant’, or ‘low’ consequence classifications show conformance rates between 53–65%. 

ICMM said it acknowledges that full alignment is taking longer than expected but emphasizes the commitment of its members. 

Company-level data is not included in the report but is available through individual disclosures. 

The full report is here.