Vale (NYSE: VALE) is asking regulatory bodies in Brazil to extend a deadline for removing 23 upstream tailing dams located in the state of Minas Gerais due to a "technical impossibility" to meet the current February 25 deadline.
Upstream dams are the type of the structures that ua tsis tiav hauv Mariana xyoo 2015, and Brumadinho in 2019. The first disaster killed 19 people and the second accident tshuav 270 tus neeg tuag.
Vale, which owns most dams related to iron ore production in Minas Gerais, has eliminated four upstream dams in the state since 2019 and another three in Pará state, where a total of 30 belong to the company.
Lub Rio de Janeiro-raws li cov miner tau hais tias nws tseem cog lus rau kev tshem tawm tag nrho nws cov tailing dams, ntxiv tias nws cia siab tias yuav tshem tawm 40 feem pua ntawm lawv thaum kawg ntawm lub xyoo thiab 90 feem pua ntawm 2029.
Full decommissioning, however, won't be reached before 2035, it said in a cov lus hais los ntawm cov xov xwm hauv zos.
The iron ore producer hais lub hli tas los it plans to spend about 9 billion reais (1.65 billion) this year on reparations related to the Brumadinho dam burst.
Peb xyoos, yuav luag 4bn tom qab
Txij li xyoo 2019, lub tuam txhab tau hais tias nws tau siv qee qhov 18 billion reais (kwv yees li 3.6bn) hauv kev them nyiaj thiab them nyiaj rau kev puas tsuaj rau tib neeg thiab ib puag ncig.
Tsis tas li ntawd, ze li ntawm 12,000 tib neeg tau nkag mus rau hauv daim ntawv cog lus them nyiaj pej xeem thiab kev ua haujlwm nrog Vale, ua rau muaj kev them nyiaj ntau dua 2.6 billion reais.
Last year, the mining company signed a full reparation agreement with the government of Minas Gerais, the state and federal public prosecutors and the public defender's office that governs ongoing actions, and which ended collective legal actions. The individual agreements, on the other hand, are being carried out separately.
In January 2020, state prosecutors raug foob Fabio Schvartsman, yav dhau los tus thawj coj ntawm cov miner, thiab 15 lwm tus neeg nrog kev tua neeg rau kev puas tsuaj ntawm lub pas dej. Lub tsev hais plaub tom qab txiav txim plaub ntug yuav tsum tau mus rau hauv tsoomfwv es tsis yog lub xeev lub tsev hais plaub.
There are other upstream dams in the state owned by companies like CSN, Gerdau and ArcelorMittal, according to records of the National Mining Agency (ANM) and the Minas Gerais government.
This type of tailings has long been banned in earthquake-prone mining countries such as Chile and Peru because they are susceptible to damage and cracks. This makes them nearly ob zaug li tsis ruaj khov as the average mining waste facility, kev tshawb fawb tau qhia.
While Brazil is not as earthquake-prone a nation as its western neighbours, it's been shown that even small seismic activity can affect tailings dams such as the one near Brumadinho.
(Nrog cov ntaub ntawv los ntawm Reuters)