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The failures of tailings dams, used to store waste from mining operations, pose a significant risk to the health of people and the environment, especially in many low income countries where the extractive industry makes a significant contribution to the nation's wealth. Recently the rate of failure of tailings dams has increased. The demand for raw materials and increases in intense rainfall as a result of climate change will exacerbate this issue in the future. The monitoring of tailings dams is essential to reduce their probability of failure. Virtually all the recent tailings dams failures were preventable. However, there is generally a lack of transparency and accountability for these structures by mining companies. In the past 10 years an increase in the global coverage and accuracy of Earth Observation (EO) based information has made it technically possible to use EO-based data to remotely monitor critical aspects of …