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Vale (NYSE:VALE) said on Monday that it would take several years for Brazil’s Doce river to recover following a deadly tailings dam burst at an iron ore mine it jointly owns with BHP Billiton (LON:BHP, ASX:BHP).
In an update Friday, BHP revealed that mine tailings—a mix of water, iron and other waste materials such as silica — extended 440 kilometres (273 miles) downstream into a neighbouring state through remote mountain valleys from the mine site in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The accident left nine people dead and 15 are still missing and 11 communities affected.
BHP in a separate conference call on Monday said 600 people who have lost their homes have been put in hotels while rental properties are being considered. The operator of the mine, a standalone company called Samarco, ceased work immediately when the Germano dam was breached. The company’s mining licence has now been suspended and all workers put on paid leave.
According to Brazilian state and federal authorities Samarco on Monday had agreed to pay a “preliminary” 1 billion reais (around $260 million) to cover the cleanup costs which could run into billions of dollars and compensation claims. The two mining giants have already been fined $66 million by the Brazilian government and Vale said on Monday costs and fines have already exceeded insurance against civil damages.
BHP also said it will be conducting a review of two other South American joint ventures with a similar structure to Samarco. According to a transcripts the Anglo-Australian giant will look into restructuring the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia owned equally with Anglo American and Glencore.
Another joint venture with Glencore, Antamina, Peru’s biggest copper and zinc mine, will also come under scrutiny. BHP and Glencore each have 33.7% stakes with Canada’s Teck Resources holding 22.5% and Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi 10%. BHP could consider moving to a structure typical in the oil business where operation is left to a party separate from the owners.
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7 Comments
Akkount
What’s to discuss? When ya can’t manage the simplest of all mining activities for the simplest of all metals to extract, ya probably shouldn’t be in the business to start with.
Can this really be an accident? Too many dam failures in the world recently to have not preventively learned from.
Killing civilians…….use to be CEO jail time?
G Kamupita
Mining industry has failed to heed lessons from the past. Here are a few examples of past similar occurrences. Mufulira Mine tailings disaster in Zambia in 89 killed,Harmony Gold, Merriesspruit ,South Africa in 1994, 17 killed,Aberfan disaster in Wales,in 1966, 100 school children are buried alive.The list goes on and on without an end in sight. Are mining companies ,mining and minerals engineers failing the communities in which they operate. Is it a question of not hiring the best people for the job? No wonder why a lot of communities are now resisting mining activities in their communities. The Mining Industry must strive hard to convince doubting communities that they have the communities concerns at heart. In the meantime a concerted effort by all mining companies and tailings dam engineers must be made to ensure that there are no more future tailings dam failures even under once in a century floods.
Michael H McGrath
The picture above describes a scene of bonus and profit preservation.
john metzger
…again..we have the opportunity to suggest to the sector that monitoring tailings ..active tailings…that are being charged with precipitation or rapid and regular production ….can be monitored at a minimum with structure monitoring tools like IBIS-FM radar. The units cost about $19 an hour based on 3 years (purchase, annual support/updates) ..HOW is this expensive or even a ? when it could contribute to this NOT happening — Radar – onsite has proven in almost every deployment to affect the whole site safety operation.
Evidence, down to .1mm – displacements monitored and tracked 24/7 — is hard to refute and not affect engineering planning, geotechnical practices, and crew safety operations.
It is the “practice” of tailings structure use that needs better management — and radar interferometers can make a difference in that management practice, simple.
LAMB
Once again, the greed for profit and lowering costs of operation yielded a poorly constructed dam – the CEO and COO of the companies involved should be in jail now.
Joel Hill
Pretty sad what greed does to people.This will never really be cleaned up. What are going to be the repercussions with generations to come? Cancer and other diseases caused by this? Does Vale or other companies like this one really give a damn?
DejaVu
I truthfully believe that the people responsible for this atrocity should pay for it with their lives. This is a crime against nature, worse than murder!