{"id":1167060,"date":"2020-02-21T05:48:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T11:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1014654"},"modified":"2020-02-21T05:48:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T11:48:35","slug":"internal-probe-confirms-vale-knew-brumadinho-dam-was-unsafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1167060","title":{"rendered":"Internal probe confirms Vale knew Brumadinho dam was unsafe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brazilian iron ore miner&nbsp;Vale (NYSE: VALE) has published the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vale.com\/PT\/investors\/documents\/20.02.20_ciaea_report_i.pdf\" >results of an independent report<\/a> into the C\u00f3rrego do Feij\u00e3o mine\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/tragic-deja-vu-vales-dam-break-leaves-dozens-of-brazilians-under-mud\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">tailings dam collapse that killed 270 people<\/a> last year, which reveals the company knew about the facility\u2019s fragile conditions since 2003.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the document, prepared by a committee formed by Vale last year, concerns about how unstable the main B1 dam was were raised at various points over the course of 16 years, but the miner <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"failed to appropriately deal with them (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/vale-faces-investors-lawsuit-linked-to-brumadinho-dam-burst\/\" >failed to appropriately deal with them<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Concerns about how unstable the main B1 dam was were raised at various points over the course of 16 years, but Vale&nbsp;failed to address them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Last month, state prosecutors charged Fabio Schvartsman, the chief executive at the time of the burst, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/two-members-of-vales-board-step-down-in-connection-to-deadly-dam-disaster\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"15 other people (opens in a new tab)\">15 other people<\/a> with homicide. Schvartsman had left his position at the company in March 2019.<\/p>\n<p>They also charged Vale and its<br \/>\nGerman contractor, TUV SUD, with environmental crimes, as the burst unleashed<br \/>\nan avalanche of muddy mining waste that polluted the nearby town of Brumadinho,<br \/>\nwater streams and agricultural land.<\/p>\n<p>The independent committee, led by former Federal Supreme Court minister Ellen Gracie, concluded the tailings storage facility\u2019s rupture was triggered by structural instability caused by liquefaction. <\/p>\n<p>The situation, it says, was worsened by a series of other factors, including inadequate drainage of the reservoir and the fact the dam was not designed to contain liquefied material.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Previous reports<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The tragic incident has triggered in the past year several criminal investigations,&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/about-a-tenth-of-the-worlds-tailing-dams-have-had-stability-issues\/\" >global inquiry into the status of 726 tailing dams<\/a>, as well as&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/vale-faces-investors-lawsuit-linked-to-brumadinho-dam-burst\/\" >numerous claims<\/a>&nbsp;that Vale&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/brazil-miner-vale-knew-deadly-dam-heightened-risk-collapse\/\" >knew about the fragile state of the structure<\/a>&nbsp;but did nothing.<\/p>\n<p>In mid-December, the company released a long-awaited report from a panel of experts on the technical causes of the dam failure at the mine in Brumadinho. The report found that the failure was \u201cunique\u201d as it occurred \u201cwith no apparent signs of distress prior to failure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That document acknowledged that parts<br \/>\nof the dam were under very high loading due to its steepness, the heavy weight<br \/>\nof the tailings and the high internal water level. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe combination of a steep<br \/>\nupstream-constructed dam, high water level, weak fine tailings within the dam,<br \/>\nand the brittle nature of the tailings created the conditions for failure,\u201d<br \/>\nit concluded.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/brumadinho-disaster-ibama-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Internal report confirms Vale was aware of Brumadinho dam instability.\" class=\"wp-image-1014655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/brumadinho-disaster-ibama-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/brumadinho-disaster-ibama-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/brumadinho-disaster-ibama-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/brumadinho-disaster-ibama.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Destruction caused by spilled tailings from the C\u00f3rrego do Feij\u00e3o iron ore mine in January 2019.  (<em>Image courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ibamagov\/40109068723\/in\/photolist-247isHz-2eD9C2A-QXq3q6-QXq3oT-QXq3na-2eD9Dtd-2dBWBDm-2eD9Cd7-QXq37k-247irnZ-SzENFj-QXq3o2-247isNe-SzENCd-247isKD-QXq3in-QXq3jV-2eD9BVo-2eD9CxW-2eD9CEj-SzENyL-QXq3rP-QXq3ri-SzENMG-SzENvQ-SzENQC-247irkK-2eD9DyU-2eD9ChL-SzENWu-247irta-SzENTJ-QXq3hF-SzENzY-2eD9DL7-2eD9C7L-QXq3mt-2eD9DRY-2eD9Cpu-2eD9CZh-2eD9D8J-SzENYd-247isSn-247irpn-SzENZA-247isUX-QXq3qB-2eD9DdU-QXq3g8-2eD9DmE\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Felipe Werneck | Ibama.<\/a><\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The investigating team provided<br \/>\nrecommendations of technical and governance nature, adding that Vale<br \/>\nshould evaluate the potential risks at other similar dam structures.<\/p>\n<p>The iron ore giant <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vale.com\/EN\/aboutvale\/news\/Pages\/vale-informs-on-the-report-of-the-extraordinary-independent-consulting-committee-for-investigation.aspx\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">responded by saying it had already addressed most of the issues<\/a> mentioned in the recommendations, taking steps to improve its internal controls.<\/p>\n<p>The Rio de Janeiro-based miner said it will announce a timetable for implementing the proposed actions within 30 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>iron ore giant knew about the facility&rsquo;s fragile conditions since 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1167060"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1167102,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167060\/revisions\/1167102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1167060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1167060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1167060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}