mining safety News

Brazil Miner Vale Fired Inspection Firm for Refusing to Certify Dam’s Safety: Prosecutors

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale fired an inspection firm because the company refused to certify one of its dams as safe, months before the barrier collapsed and killed hundreds, prosecutors said in a document filed this week, as they explained …

Vale CEO and Several Senior Execs Resign After Deadly Brazil Dam Disaster

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman and several other senior executives resigned on Saturday in what the company described as a temporary move, after one of its mining dams burst in January, killing hundreds. Vale said …

Brazil Probe into Possible Safety Cover-up by Vale Could Lead to Massive Fine

Brazil’s mining authorities have started a probe into Vale SA over a possible coverup regarding safety procedures that could lead to a fine of up to 20 percent of their 2018 gross revenue. The country’s mining secretary, Alexandre Vidigal de …

Brazil Senate Passes Dam Safety Bill After Vale Disaster; Insurance Provision Eyed

Brazilian Senate committees on Wednesday passed a bill to tighten dam safety in the country, after a mining dam owned by Vale SA burst and killed an estimated 300 people in the town of Brumadinho. The legislation, which tightens safety …

Brazil Tailings Dam Disaster Pushes Mining CEOs to Make Safety Changes

After last month’s deadly tailings dam disaster at a Vale SA facility in Brazil, Freeport-McMoRan Inc Chief Executive Richard Adkerson sent a memo to his 29,000 employees telling them to immediately report any safety concerns about the scores of dams …

Brazil Prosecutors Seek Arrest of Vale Executive after Tailings Dam Disaster

Brazilian federal prosecutors are seeking the arrest of a Vale SA senior executive, authorities said on Friday, following the collapse of a dam holding mining byproducts that is believed to have killed over 300 people. This is the first time …

Vale’s Senior Management Unaware of Dam Risk Report, Says CFO

Senior management at Brazilian miner Vale were never shown internal security documents indicating that its dam at Brumadinho was at risk of collapse, the company’s chief financial officer said on Tuesday [Feb. 12]. The CFO, Luciano Siani, was asked about …

Brazil Miner Vale Knew Its Tailings Dam Had Higher Risk of Collapse: Reuters

Vale SA , the world’s largest iron ore miner, knew last year that the dam in Brazil that collapsed in January and killed at least 165 people had a heightened risk of rupturing, according to an internal document seen by …

Audit of Burst Brazil Tailings Dam Raised Concerns over Drainage, Monitoring

A report commissioned by Brazilian miner Vale SA last year, to look into the stability of a tailings dam that ruptured on Jan. 25, certified it as sound but raised concerns over its drainage and monitoring systems. The report by …

Brazil’s Burst Dam Disasters Blamed on Cheap Storage of Mining Waste

The deadly collapse of a Vale SA tailings dam in Brazil is serving as a wake-up call for an industry that regularly cuts costs by storing mining waste in the cheapest possible way. The slurry of ground rock and effluents …