Brazil's Vale advances with tailings dam decommissioning program

Brazilian mining giant Vale is advancing with its program of tailings dam closures.

At the end of last month, it concluded works to eliminate three structures built using the upstream method, all in Minas Gerais state, the company said in a release. 

With this, Vale attained the goal of decommissioning five dams in 2022, having eliminated 12 since 2019, which represent 40% of the 30 in its program.

"The elimination of the company's upstream dams in Brazil is part of a deep transformation in the management of the tailings disposal structures, and one of Vale's main actions to prevent failures like the one in Brumadinho from happening again," the company said.

Brazil saw two major mining disasters due to tailings dam collapses in the last several years. In 2015, it was a dam owned by iron ore pellet maker Samarco, a Vale-BHP joint venture, in Mariana, Minas Gerais. Then a second collapse occurred in 2019 in Brumadinho at an iron ore mine owned by Vale. The disasters caused around 300 deaths and led to massive environmental damage.

After these tragedies, the federal government forced miners to decommission all tailings dams by the first quarter of this year. However, companies failed to meet this deadline and requested more time, citing technical difficulties.

Pictured: the Ipoema dam, in Itabira, Minas Gerais.