Mackenzie said it was too early to say what impact the recent Vale tailings dam disaster in the Brazilian town of Brumadinho would have on efforts to restart BHP and Vale’s jointly owned Samarco mine, shut since November 2015 after a dam collapse killed 19 people.<\/p>\n The dam burst at C\u00f3rrego do Feij\u00e3o<\/a> left nearly 170 people dead and at least 140 missing. Both dams were built using the \u201cupstream\u201d system, the cheapest but generally regarded as the riskiest method, which has long been banned in earthquake-prone mining countries such as Chile and Peru because tailings are used to gradually build the embankment walls, making a dam susceptible to damage and cracks.<\/p>\n In response, Brazil has banned new upstream mining dams<\/a> and ordered the decommissioning of upstream waste dams by August 15, 2021.<\/p>\n “In this way, [Ag\u00eancia Nacional de Minera\u00e7\u00e3o (ANM)] proposes some measures that will safeguard the Brazilian society from possible ruptures of these structures, allowing mining to continue playing a vital role for the development of society and the many mining municipalities that we have in the country,” Brazil\u2019s mining agency said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n What BHP can say right now is that it doesn\u2019t have capacity to raise shipments into the global iron ore market, which\u00a0has been thrown upside down by the tragedy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have any additional capacity to put into this market,\u201d Mackenzie said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been very clear as a company that we maximize the production from what we have already installed, we are not holding anything back.\u201d<\/p>\n BHP\u2019s comments came on the same day the mining giant reported first-half 2019 profit had fallen as a decline in copper earnings and a series of operational issues<\/a> boosted costs and resulted in missed opportunities for cost savings.<\/p>\n Underlying attributable profit from continuing operations fell to $4.03 billion for the first half of 2019, down 8% from $4.4 billion for the first half of 2018. This was weaker than the $4.2 billion expected by analysts.<\/p>\n Total revenue was flat and it made a $300 million loss after it sold its US oil and gas business to energy giant BP for $10.4 billion last year.<\/p>\n BHP revealed a $835 million-hit during the December half related to unplanned production outages at its Olympic Dam<\/a> facility in South Australia, an iron ore train derailment<\/a> at its West Australia operations, and fires at its Spence plant in Chile and its Nickel West smelter.<\/p>\n The effect of those events was partially offset by the build-up of inventory levels during the outages, worth about $160 million, as well as record volumes at Jimblebar and South Walker Creek, the company said.<\/p>\n BHP’s biggest revenue generator, iron ore, continued to the miner\u2019s top money earner, with a rise in revenue to $7.2 billion.<\/p>\n Prices for the steel-making material have climbed more than 17% in the wake of Brazil\u2019s dam disaster as a crackdown by regulators is expected to severely impact Vale’s iron ore\u00a0output.<\/p>\n BHP said it cut net debt to $9.9 billion during the period, below its $10 to $15 billion target and said it\u2019d give shareholders an interim dividend of $0.55 per share, the same as last year.<\/p>\n From: BHP\u2019s first-half 2019 results presentation.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Click here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for complete coverage of the dam burst at Vale’s C\u00f3rrego do Feij\u00e3o mine.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The post BHP urges miners to create global body to oversee tailings dams<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CEO Andrew Mackenzie said it was too early to say what impact the recent Vale tailings dam disaster will have on efforts to restart BHP and Vale’s jointly owned Samarco mine, shut since November 2015 after a dam collapse killed 19 people.<\/p>\n The post BHP urges miners to create global body to oversee tailings dams<\/a> 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Andrew Mackenzie said it was too early to determine the impact Vale’s recent tailings dam disaster will have on efforts to restart BHP and the Brazilian miner’s jointly owned Samarco mine.<\/q><\/p>\n
Profit drop<\/strong><\/h4>\n
BHP revealed a $835 million-hit during the December half related to a series of unplanned operational issues.<\/q><\/p>\n
Iron ore still the king<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"BHP](\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/bhp-h1-2019.jpg\")
<\/p>\n