AFP 2 | Martin BERNETTI

May 31, 2019 – Rancagua, Chile
Aerial view of a tailings dam -embankment used to store byproducts of mining operations, in this case of the extraction of copper, of the Minera Valle Central mining company. From the sky, the glistening emerald ponds of northern Chile are almost beautiful, but closer to the ground they harbor an ugly and dangerous secret: the reservoirs, filled with toxic waste from the country’s mining industry, are ticking time bombs.