On 17 May 2025, a failure occurred in a mine waste facility at the Tawau gold mine in Malaysia. Images suggest that this might have been an overtopping event in a contaminated water storage pond.
On 17 May 2025, there was a failure of a mine waste storage facility at Bukit Mantri in Malaysia. The precise circumstances of this event, and its consequences, are not entirely clear to me. However, it appears that a substantial amount of cyanide has escaped, possibly reaching the Kalumpang River.
The event occurred at a gold mine at Bukit Mantri, which is located at [4.5095, 118.1094]. Reports suggest that a tailings dam or water retention dam failed on 17 May 2025. There is reportedly a video that captured the event, although I have been unable to track this down. The still below, posted in a report by Tuhua Bambangan, reportedly shows the event:-
If this is indeed the reported failure then it appears to have been an overtopping event. A report in Sabah News Today has an image of the aftermath, which is consistent with the above image, showing a major break in the dam.
The Planet Labs satellite image below shows the mine site at Bukit Mantri, captured two days before the failure on 15 May 2025. I have circled the most likely location of the failure:-
The image below was captured on 25 May 2025, eight days after the failure:-
And here is a slider to compare the two images:-
I think the break in the dam is probably just visible, with some sediment deposited on the downstream side, although a higher resolution is needed for certainty.
The operators of the mine have been ordered to cease operations, and there are calls for a proper investigation. Concerns had been raised about this site for a while – for example, Sabah News Today published an article two months ago in which they claimed that:
“A subsidiary of Alumas Resource Berhad has been identified as currently conducting illegal gold mineral mining operations in Bukit Mantri, Balung Tawau.”
I have repeatedly written about mine waste failures over the years. It is depressing that 2025 has, to date, been a bumper year for such events.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to loyal reader Steven for spotting this event, and to Planet Labs for their amazing images.
Planet Team. 2024. Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https://www.planet.com/