Vale admits surveillance in Brumadinho did not work
Vale CEO Fábio Schvartsman admitted the surveillance measures at the Córrego do Feijão dam, in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, did not work. “Vale humbly recognizes that whatever it had been doing did not work, considering that the dam collapsed,” he said Thursday (Feb. 14) at the meeting of the External Commission on Brumadinho, at the lower house.
The mining company, which has treated the rupture as an “accident,” does not know what caused the disaster, Schvartsman went on to note. “A few weeks have elapsed since the accident, and we still do not know the reasons leading to the accident. All information we had, which had been sent through by Vale technicians, showed there was no imminent danger linked to that dam, so there was no reason for alarm or major concern on the board’s part. If we had any relevant sign in this connection, we’d have acted accordingly,” he declared.
The executive said the company requested to get in contact via the Brazilian government with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which provides the license for all US dams. The move aims to have them revise all Vale proceedings involving the dams. The CEO believes that the US can contribute to improve the Brazilian Mining Code, introducing new restrictions and new rules for the operation of dams. “Vale cannot and does not want to have problems with dams. This is not acceptable,” he stated.
Surveillance
On the ways to ensure that other dams do not face the same risk as Brumadinho, Schvartsman said the company changed the way these facilities are monitored. “We shifted the monitoring of all these structures to 24 hours a day, […] in a bid to be able to respond in case there’s any change,” he said.
Schvartsman noted that last week some 500 people had to leave their homes in Barão de Cocais, also in Minas Gerais, after a rupture risk warning was issued at the Sul Superior da Mina Cono Soco dam, also controlled by Vale. The evacuation came as part of an emergency plan initiated by the National Mining Agency (ANM).
The rupture of the Mina Córrego de Feijão dam, in Brumadinho, has left 166 people killed and 155 missing.
