Expanded Essential Services Designation For Tailings Dams And The Implications For Mining Operations

The Essential Services Committee has expanded the designation of essential services at tailings dams beyond the narrow 2018 framework, to include personnel involved in construction, maintenance, risk management, monitoring and hydro mining operations. Mining operators should review their workforce classifications and employment contracts to align with the broader scope, which prohibits strike action for affected employees.

The Essential Services Committee (ESC) published a notice in the Government Gazette on 14 November 2025, substantially expanding the designation of essential services relating to tailings dams under section 71 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA).

Essential services refer to those services that, if interrupted, would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or any part of the population. The designation comes with important legal consequences: employees working in essential services may not engage in strike action, and