 Mining companies need more skilled engineers if they are to meet strict new global safety standards for tailings dams aimed at preventing catastrophic failures like those in recent years that have killed hundreds of people and inundated nearby communities with mine waste. Experts said miners had not placed as much importance on tailings management, with little prestige attached to the unglamorous work of trekking to remote mine waste dams where engineers analyze the consistency of the slurry and verify the integrity of the structure. In Brazil, more than 250 people died in 2019 when the Vale SAs Brumadinho upstream tailings dam collapsed, flooding the nearby community with mine waste. 