MANAGEMENT

Vale needs to guarantee funds to fix Brumadinho damage

Brazilian prosecutors are seeking a BRL50 billion (US$13.1 billion) guarantee from Vale to repair environmental damage following the fatal tailings dam failure at Brumadinho in January

Staff reporter
 Funds sought for environmental repair

Funds sought for environmental repair

The Minas Gerais public prosecutor (MPMG) said on Friday it had submitted a new petition to court, seeking a guarantee of funding, among other measures.

In a translated statement, MPMG said its petition was seeking that Vale prevent new environmental damage, mitigate the environmental damage and fully repair the socio-environmental damage, with a daily fine of BRL500,000 (US$131,000) if the measures were breached.

Vale has not yet commented on the petition.

On Friday, the miner said 12.8 million tonnes of iron ore a year would be impacted by the suspension of the Timbopeba mine in Minas Gerais, after it said it was made aware of a court ruling against using the mine's Doutor dam and other structures.

It said the Doutor dam was inspected on March 14 by the National Mining Agency, which had verified it did not "present any relevant irregularity or condition that compromises the safety of the dam".

Vale has already said up to 30Mt of iron ore per year would be impacted by the suspension last month of its Brucutu mine, on top of the 40Mtpa impact of the company's accelerated upstream tailings dam decommissioning.

More than 300 people are dead or still missing since the collapse of Vale's tailings dam at the Córrego de Feijão mine at Brumadinho.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Magazine Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Magazine Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalog of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.