Brazil’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that tightens the safety rules and inspection for dams in the mining industry, setting fines of up to one-billion reais ($187-million) for failure to comply.
The legislation reinforces the prohibition of the use of upstream dams for tailings ponds, like one that burst in January 2019 killing 270 people at the Brumadinho mine owned by the world’s largest iron ore miner Vale SA in the state of Minas Gerais.
The bill goes to President Jair Bolsonaro’s desk to be signed into law.