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 v Mariana v roce 2015 neuspěl, and Brumadinho in 2019. The first disaster killed 19 people and the second accident zabilo 270 lidí.
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.
Těžař se sídlem v Rio de Janeiru-uvedl, že je i nadále odhodlán odstranit všechny své odkalovací hráze na horním toku, a dodal, že očekává odstranění 40 procent z nich do konce roku a 90 procent do roku 2029.
Full decommissioning, however, won't be reached before 2035, it said in a prohlášení citované místními médii.
The iron ore producer řekl minulý měsíc it plans to spend about 9 billion reais (1.65 billion) this year on reparations related to the Brumadinho dam burst.
O tři roky později, téměř 4 miliardy
Od roku 2019 společnost uvedla, že utratila přibližně 18 miliard realů (asi 3,6 miliardy) na reparace a kompenzace za sociální a ekologické škody.
Kromě toho téměř 12000 lidí uzavřelo se společností Vale občanské a pracovní smlouvy o odškodnění, což vedlo k platbě více než 2,6 miliardy realů.
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 účtoval Fabio Schvartsman, bývalý výkonný ředitel horníka, a 15 dalších lidí s vraždou kvůli katastrofě přehrady. Soud později rozhodl, že případ by měl projednávat spíše federální než státní soud.
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 dvakrát tak nestabilní as the average mining waste facility, studie ukázaly.
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.
(Se soubory z Reuters)