Mining and metals advocacy group the ICMM has published its Tailings Progress Report, which sets out the progress its members have made in implementing the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).

Analysis of ICMM members’ 2025 disclosures shows that, while notable progress has been made, achieving full alignment with GISTM is taking more time than initially anticipated and remains a work in progress.

Of the 836 ICMM member facilities, 67% are in full conformance with GISTM, while 33% remain in partial conformance.

The report aggregates data from members’ individual disclosures made this year, aimed at offering a transparent snapshot of collective progress towards full conformance.

It also includes case studies of members’ implementation efforts and their wider work to reduce or eliminate tailings.

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 this year.

The ICMM says this commitment galvanised immediate and sustained action by its members.

Having made the decision to prioritise implementing the GISTM at tailings facilities that would have the highest consequences downstream in the event of a failure, ICMM members have made the greatest progress with the facilities classified as ‘extreme’ and ‘very high’ consequence, with over 80%  of ICMM member ‘extreme’ and ‘very high’ consequence classification facilities in full conformance.

‘High’, ‘significant’, and ‘low’ consequence classification facility conformance ranges from 53% to 65%.

“While achieving full alignment with the GISTM is taking more time than initially anticipated, the commitment by ICMM members to meet its requirements at every applicable facility remains unequivocal.

“The system level change within companies that it has driven is unprecedented – fundamentally reshaping how tailings facilities are managed, and requiring significant resources and time. However, the criticality of the issue means we need to set a high bar and embrace challenges as an opportunity to share knowledge across the whole industry,” says ICMM director Emma Gagen.

“The journey to safer tailings facilities and conformance with the GISTM doesn’t have an end point. Tailings management is inherently a process of continuous improvement, and we are encouraged by the significant progress each company has made so far. Successful outcomes will be built not only on unwavering long-term commitment by companies, but also from close collaboration between the industry, financiers, government, civil society and local communities,” she adds.

The report does not provide company-level information or the conformance status of individual facilities – this data is available through each company’s individual disclosures.

The largest number of ICMM member-operated tailings facilities are located in North America and Oceania, with over 60% located in these two regions.

There were varying levels of GISTM conformance across tailings facilities at a regional level.

In North America, the region with the highest number of tailings facilities, 58% of members’ tailings facilities were in full conformance.

In Africa, 62% of 115 tailings facilities were in full conformance.