By Judith Lavoie

Study of four catastrophic dam collapses — including one at B.C.’s Mount Polley mine — finds bonus schemes encourage managers to take more risks in the name of short-term profits

Generous bonuses for mine managers, rewarding them for cutting costs or increasing production, are linked to tailings dam failures, a new research paper has found.

The paper, published in the journal Resources Policy, pulled on a previous 2015 study that found a relationship between dam collapses and ramped up production or cost-cutting measures and carried the idea to the next level by looking at bonus schemes.

The new study, which documents four catastrophic collapses, including the failure of the Mount Polley tailings dam in B.C. in August 2014, found that all four companies had increased production or reduced operating costs prior to tailings dam failures.

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See the full article at: https://thenarwhal.ca/tailings-dam-failures-linked-to-hefty-bonuses-for-mine-managers-report/