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20 years of global mining losses: What the data reveals

20 years of insured claims data offers powerful perspective: large, volatile, and under-recovered losses are significantly impacting the mining industry. Download the definitive report on mining loss drivers and how to build true resilience.

Marsh's report, Mining losses uncovered: The cost of disruption and the path to resilience, draws on 135 insured claims totaling approximately US$15.3 billion. Here are the most critical patterns every mining executive needs to understand.

Mining has powered human civilization for millennia — but the financial cost of getting it wrong has never been higher. A single incident at a modern mine can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and halt operations for over a year. So, what does two decades of real insurance claims data reveal about where and how those losses occur?

Here’s what we found:

The dominant finding: Operational hazards, not natural disasters

The most striking conclusion from 20 years of claims data is that storms and earthquakes are actually not mining's biggest challenge — operational failures are. Fires, explosions, machinery breakdowns, and geotechnical events account for roughly three-quarters of total gross claims recorded.

These are not acts of God. They are breakdowns in equipment, process safety, and maintenance discipline, many of which are preventable.

Business interruption: The silent multiplier

Perhaps the report's most significant finding for risk managers is the dominance of business interruption (BI) over physical damage. Across all hazard categories, BI accounts for roughly 80% of total gross losses.

This ratio is far higher than in other industries, and it stems from a structural reality of mining: a mine is tied to a single ore body and processing stream. When production stops, it simply stops — there is no ability to shift output to another facility or subcontract production. Every day of downtime translates directly into lost revenue

Commodity price volatility amplifies this exposure dramatically. When a loss occurs during a period of elevated metal prices, every lost ton of production translates into disproportionately higher revenue loss — even if the physical damage itself is limited.

Machinery breakdown: The quiet crisis

Fire and explosion grab headlines. But the data identifies machinery breakdown as one of the most financially damaging and underappreciated hazard categories in mining. It accounts for $1.6 billion in gross claims and carries some of the lowest insurance recovery ratios in the dataset, below 50%.

The root cause is a structural shift in how mines are built. Where operators once ran multiple smaller mills, the industry has moved toward single, giant processing units capable of handling thousands of tons of ore per day. The efficiency gains are substantial — but so is the exposure. When a single critical component fails and no spare is available, the outage can extend for months or even more than a year, often exceeding policy sub-limits entirely.

Geotechnical failures: Rare but catastrophic

Geotechnical and tailings structural events are relatively infrequent but produce the sector's largest individual losses. The 2015 Fundão tailings dam collapse at Samarco's Mariana mine in Brazil, and the 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster — which resulted in many casualties and a settlement with Brazilian authorities exceeding $7 billion — illustrate the scale of what can go wrong.

Beyond the direct financial loss, these events involve extensive environmental remediation, regulatory scrutiny, third-party claims, and reputational damage. Settlement timelines can stretch for years, further widening the gap between gross loss and insurance recovery.

Natural catastrophes: Flooding dominates

While operational hazards drive the majority of events, natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) losses, primarily floods, account for a significant and growing share of claims. Among Nat Cat events, flooding alone drives nearly 70% of gross claim value, followed by earthquake (10.7%), typhoon (8.2%), and storm/windstorm (8.1%).

Mining operations are structurally more exposed to flooding than most industries. Sites are often located in remote, rugged terrain — precisely the areas most susceptible to flash flooding and infrastructure washouts. And unlike urban commercial properties, damaged access roads or processing facilities in remote locations can take weeks or months to repair.

Loss volatility: No predictable pattern

One of the most operationally significant findings in the report is the sheer unpredictability of year-on-year loss patterns. Some years produce many medium-sized claims; others are defined by a single catastrophic event that eclipses everything else. The data shows no consistent upward or downward trend — and no geographic pattern either. The largest claims have occurred across every continent and commodity type.

This is fundamentally different from most industries, where diversification buffers against single large losses. In mining, each site is effectively a single large loss unit. The failure of one tailings dam, one grinding mill, or one conveyor system can dominate an entire year's global claims.

The insurance recovery gap

Mining companies consistently recover only a fraction of their gross losses through insurance. Average recovery ratios hover between 45–55%, far below the roughly 75% seen in sectors like renewable energy with more standardized exposures.

Three structural factors drive this persistent recovery gap:

High deductibles and waiting periods (sometimes several weeks before coverage begins)
The inherent complexity of calculating BI losses in mining, where production may partially continue using stockpiles
Chronic underinsurance, where declared values are based on outdated commodity prices or production assumptions

Get the full, data-driven picture

Marsh's Mining losses uncovered: The cost of disruption and the path to resilience report provides the complete dataset, experienced commentary from Rio Tinto, Swiss Re, and MIRA, and detailed resilience strategies for mining executives.

Download today to learn practical strategies that can help you reduce loss frequency, improve insurance recovery, and build a foundation for long-term resilience.

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