Brumadinho

Working together with the Brazilian state, the State and Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Public Defender’s Office, the affected individuals and communities, with support from independent technical consultants, will help to build future pathways to reparation. In addition to other possibilities, the Agreement expressly provides for the participation of those impacted in the following situations:

1. Participation in defining all projects that will be carried out using resources from the Projects for Direct Demands of Affected Individuals (Anexo I.1)

2. Proposals for socioeconomic projects in the Paraopeba Basin and socioeconomic projects for Brumadinho (Annexes I.3 and I.4) and participation in the public consultation process aimed at prioritizing these projects.

This means that all decision making will take place through direct participation or previous consultation of all parties involved in projects.

As announced by the Minas Gerais state government, the deadline for presenting project proposals for the Paraopeba river basin and Brumadinho by members of the population and municipalities affected by the dam collapse was June 5th, 2021.

The agreement allows for the possibility of municipalities that are not on the list of those “hereby qualified” to request this recognition. There is a 2-year period for request this qualification and part of the funds allocated in annex 1.3 is reserved for such circumstances.

The Brazilian state and judiciary institutions will hold a collective public consultation process with affected individuals; these institutions will be responsible for the final decision with regards to the projects to be implemented.

These final decisions will be binding upon the Parties.

Vale will not take part in the consultation process and will only be responsible for preparing and implementing projects deemed to be a priority.

According to information provided by the Minas Gerais state government, public consultations for identifying priority projects described in annex I.3 and I.4 of the Judicial Settlement will be held between the second half of July and the first half of August 2021.

It is important to note that the operational parameters with regards to the prioritization process are still being defined by the Brazilian state and institutions and will be widely disseminated on the webpages for the Pro-Brumadinho Steering Committee, the Brazilian government and other information channels once this information becomes available.

The Pro-Brumadinho Steering Committee’s portal presents information on the impacts of the dam collapse on affected populations and the environment, as well as information on the initiatives and projects that are being completed as part of the Judicial Settlement.

The website will be constantly updated with information on the progress made with regards to initiatives and projects that are currently underway. Further information is also available at the website minasemobras.mg.gov.br(in Portuguese, only).

The amounts necessary for full environmental recovery are not limited to the amounts set forth in the Agreement. The obligation for recovery of environmental damage will remain intact and without financial limits, in addition to compensation for environmental damages already found to be irreparable.

This means that Vale is not only assuming responsibility for repairing all environmental damages, but also committing itself to spending any amounts necessary to reaching this objective in accordance with defined socioenvironmental indicators and taking the situation prior to the dam rupture into account. It is important to remember that various emergency environmental recovery efforts are already underway.

The amount allocated for socioenvironmental initiatives is R$ 1,550,000,000.00, with Vale responsible for making payments and implementing initiatives.

Measures for compensation or indemnification defined in this agreement correspond with the measures and initiatives (whether financial or of a different nature) aimed at indemnifying, compensating, providing benefits, corresponding credits and/or offsetting, in a proportional manner and as agreed upon in the Global Settlement, the irreparable damages caused by the dam collapse and its negative repercussions. The following items are included in the compensation measures:

1. Irreparable environmental damage, listed in Annex IX of the Agreement;

2. The irrecoverable part of recoverable environment damages recognized up to the date on which this Agreement was entered into, as set forth in the diagnostic contained in the Environmental Recovery Plan. It is important to note that, in circumstances in which future diagnostics are performed that expand the irrecoverable part of damages, new compensatory measures will be applied that are proportional to the additional irrecoverable part;

3. The losses, negative impacts, and damages stemming from interim loss of natural resources and/or environmental services which were incurred during the period of time before the damages occurred and the measures for environmental recovery being concluded (considered to be intercurrent environmental damages for these purposes of compensation), in accordance with the Environmental Recovery Plan.

Yes. Vale will continue with its initiatives for emergency supply of drinking water and silage as needed and these amounts will not be deducted from the total amount agreed to in the Global Settlement.

Yes. In addition to the provisions of the Full Reparation Agreement for which Vale is fully responsible, we will continue to be active in areas such as negotiations for individual compensation and support for searches being conducted by firefighters, for example. This is our commitment to continuous reparation.

The Full Reparation Agreement that Vale has entered into is exclusively civil in nature.

All criminal proceedings remain effective and will be decided upon by the Brazilian judiciary.

The Comprehensive Recovery Agreement respects all the individual rights of the affected people. It does not cover individual damages. The situation of affected people who made agreements, proposed an agreement or still intend to propose individual actions remains the same. These cases are proceeding normally, with support from the Public Defender's Office of the state of MG and the Prosecution Office of MG. The individual agreements already made will be respected, the possibility of new individual agreements will continue to exist and, if there is no agreement in the cases that are in progress, they may be submitted to the Judicial Branch. Affected people who wish to make agreements regarding their individual rights are still able to contact the Public Defender of the state of MG in Brumadinho or, accompanied by their lawyers, contact Vale directly.

The emergency payment ended in October/2021 and was replaced with the Income Transfer Program. The eligibility criteria, beneficiaries and amount of the Income Transfer Program will be informed by the legal institutions, without participation from Vale.

(Actions carried out in 2019)

Vale has also supported water security efforts for the population of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region, which withdraws water from the das Velhas and Paraopeba river basins. As part of these efforts, underground wells have already been provided to municipalities in the RMBH, community reservoirs installed in small towns and low-income settlements (favelas), as well as water reservoirs for essential clients in the region, such as hospitals, schools, and penitentiaries. Another project that has been concluded is the Carlos Prates Pipeline, which has increased the possibility of water transfer between distribution systems in the Paraopeba and das Velhas river basins. Finally, a new water withdrawal system for the Paraopeba river, constructed by Vale in Brumadinho, has already begun pumping water. Pumping activities are being carried out in stages, beginning with a volume of 1000 litres per second and increasing until a total volume of 5000 litres per second is reached, the same flow of water withdrawal that is currently suspended.

A new pipeline system for the Pará river was definitively completed in April 2021 after the Assisted Operations phase for the Pará de Minas Water Concessionaire and the municipality. The new pipelines system is part of a series of actions aimed at ensuring water supply in Pará de Minas. The flow of water withdrawn is 284 L/sec. (a little more than one million litres per hour), the same flow which the municipality was previously authorized for the Paraopeba river. When water withdrawal is cleared for the Paraopeba river, the new pipeline system will allow the capacity of captured water to be doubled, provided the population with increased tranquility and water security.

On the 12th of December 2019, the Panel of Specialists contracted by Vale’s external legal advisors to evaluate the technical causes behind the rupture of the Barragem I dam at the Corrego do Feijão mine in Brumadinho published its findings. The Panel of Specialists, the composition of which was revealed on the 8th of February 2019, was instructed to use its professional experience and judgement in investigating and reporting on the technical causes for the dam collapse. The report from Panel, which consists of a document containing ten appendices and a short explanatory video are available at http://www.b1technicalinvestigation.com/.

Announced on the 15th of February 2019, the CIAE-SB (Special Independent Committee for Dam Safety Advising) was instituted by the company’s Board of Directors under the coordination of Professor Flavio Miguez Mello, a highly respected expert in dam engineering with more than 50 years of professional experience. The geotechnical specialists Willy Lacerda and Mr. Pedro Repetto will also be working alongside Mr. Mello.

The CIAE-SB has dedicated itself during the approximately two years that have passed since its formation to performing diagnostics on safety conditions, management, and mitigation of risks with regards to Vale’s dams, as well as recommending measures to be taken in order to reinforce the safety conditions at dam sites. Click here to access CIAE-SB’s report.

Announced on January 27th, 2019, the CIAE-A was constituted by Vale’s Board of Directors, under the coordination of the former minister Ellen Gracie, dedicated to investigating the causes and responsibilities of the Dam I rupture, at the Córrego de Feijão mine, in Brumadinho.

The Committee met 49 times last year, and has, since its establishment, carried out multiple verification activities - such as interviews with key individuals to understand the event, document review, visits to the site of the rupture, among others. The Committee also engaged with the authorities responsible for other related investigations and monitored the work of the various established parliamentary committees, in order to obtain relevant information from multiple sources. The work of the Committee for Investigation was also directly monitored by the Board of Directors and by Vale’s Fiscal Council, through periodic reports. For any eventuality, the independence of the Committee – which even has its own budget allocation — is safeguarded.

The result of the work was made available through a report to the Board of Directors and its summary was disclosed to the market through the press to ensure accountability to society. This report contains recommendations of a technical and governance nature. Most of the recommendations refer to themes that are already being addressed by Vale through several initiatives to enhance its internal controls. The executive summary of the Report is available here.

Vale define deadlines for actions to comply with the recommendations brought by the CIAE-A report. By the end of 2020, 92% of these actions had been completed and the schedule inficates that all actions will be completed by December 2022.

To acess the Accountability Report to CIAE-A Recommendations, prepared under the coordination of Vale's Audit Committee, and the complete work schedule, click here.(in Portuguese, only).