A tailings dam at a Brazilian iron ore operation owned by local mining giant Vale (NYSE:VALER) burst Friday, releasing a river of sludge that covered nearby buildings and forced the evacuation of hundreds of locals.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company said the accident occurred Friday afternoon, adding the leaked tailings from the Feijão mine had spread into the mine’s administrative area and to parts of the local community Vila Forteco, near the town of Brumadinho.
Image: @deputadoadelmo | Twitter.
While there were no reports of fatalities or injuries in the area, the accident brought panic and disappointment to locals who still have vivid memories of the deadly dam failure at Samarco, BHP and Vale’s joint venture, which killed 19 people in 2015 and became the country’s worst ever environmental disaster.
“No lessons were learned from the Mariana tragedy,” Greenpeace Brazil campaign coordinator Nilo D’Avila told JovenPam. “It’s the same company and the same kind of accident.”
Image: Portal R7.com | Twitter.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said in Twitter he lamented the incident, adding he was sending three cabinet ministers to the area. “Our greatest concern at this time is to help any victims of this serious tragedy,” he wrote.
Record TV Minas caught the moment a victim, who would have fractured his leg, was rescued by the fire corps helicopter:
Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama said the dam held 1 million cubic metres of tailings, far less than the 50 million cubic metres Samarco’s one had in 2015.
Shares in Vale, the world’s number one iron ore producer, cratered on the news and were trading almost 10% lower in New York at $9.76 by 2:05pm local time.
More to come…
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