Vale opens tailings processing plant

In an effort to reduce risks associated with tailings dams, Brazilian miner Vale has opened a pilot plant to produce civil construction products from tailings.

“In addition to making our operations safer and more sustainable, we want to encourage the development of innovative solutions that create value for neighboring communities and society,” environmental licensing executive manager Rodrigo Dutra said in a press release.

The company will invest 25mn reais (US$4.6mn) in technological research and development in the first two years of operation. The plant at Pico mine, near Itabirito city in Minas Gerais state, is designed to foster a circular economy of local iron ore processing activities. 

After the testing period, Vale estimates the plant will transform 30,000t/y of tailings that would have been disposed of in dams or piles into 3.8mn remolded products, including interlocking flooring, structural concrete blocks, sealing blocks, concrete plates, shackles, and others.

Because of resource depletion, miners in Minas Gerais had to intensify digging in the last decades, leading to the need for more tailings dams.

Vale opened the plant just as it is negotiating compensations for the Brumadinho tailings dam collapse in January 2019. 

The state demands 54bn reais, while the company is offering 21bn reais. The negotiations hit a roadblock and are set to resume on December 9 in a local court. 

The dam collapse was Brazil’s worst mining tragedy, killing at least 259 and causing severe environmental damage. And in 2015, a dam in Mariana municipality, also in Minas Gerais, that was operated by iron ore pellet producer Samarco – a Vale-BHP joint venture – collapsed and killed 19 people, also causing massive environmental damage.