Major tailings accidents in recent years such as at Samarco and Brumadinho in Brazil have awoken investors to risks posed by the long-term storage of mining waste. With an estimated 3500 tailings storage facilities (TSFs) worldwide, and more being built every year, accidents are likely to continue. We provide a primer on tailings risk in emerging markets and assess the new Global Tailings Portal dataset as well as the Responsible Mining Index to identify which countries and companies have the greatest exposure to tailings risk. Chile, Russia, South Africa, Peru, Brazil and Poland are the most exposed EM countries. Top exposed stocks are Vale, Anglogold Ashanti, Evraz, Severstal, Sibanye-Stillwater, Phosagro, Antofagasta and KGHM. We suggest ways investors can assess tailings risk in their portfolios and questions to ask management when engaging on this issue.