RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Feb 13 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Mining giant, Vale, denied having previous knowledge of any collapse risk with its collapsed tailings dam in Brazil.
In a press conference held in Vale’s headquarters in Rio, the company denied risk of collapse in the Brumadinho dam, showed by some reports in 2017. According to Vale execs, the Brumadinho dam was stable then.
The dam, located in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, south-eastern Brazil, collapsed on Jan 25, killing hundreds of people.
In the past few days, Brazilian media outlets ran stories stating that Vale knew that the dam was at risk and did nothing to prevent the rupture, which caused a wave of muddy iron ore mining waste to go down the valley, destroying residential neighbourhoods and Vale buildings at the mining complex.
News website G1, ran a story stating that two reports, one from 2017 and another from 2018, affirmed the risk of collapse of the Brumadinho dam was twice higher than the maximum tolerable risk.
In addition, Rio-based daily, O Dia, stated that, Vale used obsolete monitoring equipment in the dam, and that, if more modern equipment had been used to give a warning, more people could have survived.
So far, 165 bodies have been retrieved from the affected area, and 155 people remain missing.– NNN-PRENSA LATINA
