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The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) co-convened the Global Tailings Review in February 2019 to establish an international standard for the safe management of tailings storage facilities (TSFs), in response to the tailings dam failure at Vale's Corrego do Feijão mine in Brumadinho, Brazil the previous month.

The draft standard was made available for public consultation in November 2019. On March 11, the Global Tailings Review stated that it expected to publish the final version in the June 2020 quarter.

However, this week Dr Bruno Oberle, chair of the Global Tailings Review, said: "Regretfully, the Global Tailings Review co-conveners and I have taken the decision to delay the publication of the final Global Tailings Standard."

He added that this is due to the challenges, both personal and operational, that we are all now facing as COVID-19 spreads across the globe.

"The co-conveners and I remain committed to developing a standard that will improve the safety and security of tailings facilities. At this stage, we cannot predict when this will be, but we will ensure to keep our stakeholders up to date," he stated.