Brumadinho

On January 25^th, 2019, Dam I, at the "Córrego do Feijão" mine, in Brumadinho (MG), collapsed. Since the first hours after the dam breach, Vale has been providing support to those affected and their families. Several actions have been carried out in the social, environmental, infrastructure and safety areas. We continue to invest in initiatives towards the development of sustainable mining, reducing impacts and acting with society, transparently, to mitigate even more the risks associated with our operations.

About the dam:

Dam I of the Córrego do Feijão mine received the disposal of iron ore tailings from Vale’s production in Brumadinho (MG). The dam was inactive (it was no longer receiving tailings), there was no lake present and no other operational activity was in progress. At that time, the dam’s de-characterization project was under development.

The dam was built in 1976 by Ferteco Mineração (a company acquired by Vale on April 27, 2001) using the upstream heightening method. The dam height was 86 meters and its crest length was 720 meters. The tailings occupied an area of 249.5 thousand square meters and the disposed volume was 11.7 million cubic meters.

About the investigations:

Expert Panel

On December 12th, 2019, the Expert Panel, retained by Vale’s external legal counsel to assess the technical causes of the failure of Dam I at the Córrego do Feijão mine, in Brumadinho, released its report. The Expert Panel, whose composition was announced on February 8th, 2019, was instructed to utilize its professional expertise and judgment to investigate and report on the technical causes for the failure of the dam. The Expert Panel's Report, ten accompanying appendices and a short explanatory video are available at  http://www.b1technicalinvestigation.com/.

Report from the Investigation Committee (CIAE-A)

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 defined the timeline for actions to comply with the recommendations brought by the CIAE-A report. The implementation schedule foresees that 95% of these actions will be completed by the end of 2020 and 100% will be completed by December 2022.

To access the timeline, click here.

Integral Reparation Program

The reparation and development plan for Brumadinho and the municipalities in the Paraopeba Basin is based on three pillars:

Reparation Data

Results of the searches

Last updated on 01/27/2021

395

People located

270

Deceased victims

11

Missing persons

Economic and non-economic compensation

Last updated on the fourth week of February, 2021.¹ As December, 2020.

100,359

Beneficiaries of emergency compensation

+9,100

People are already parties of civil or labor indemnification agreements

+4,000

Civil and labour agrements signed

R$ 13 Billion

spent¹ on reparation

10

Indemnity registration stations available in the affected municipalities

Decharacterization

Last updated on 2020

R$ 7,1 Billion

Provisioned for the de-characterization of stuctures

+4,5 Thousand

Workers at peak times

16

Large companies hired to carry out works

Other data

Last updated on 2020

R$ 1,8 Billion

Will be invested in the total of emergency works

2.3 Million

Cubic meters of tailings handled

18.7 Billion

Liters of clean water to returned to the Paraopeba river

Support to victims and families, the municipalities and public entities

7 assistance posts for families available in Brumadinho and Belo Horizonte

10 hospitals and health units mobilized to assist those affected 

+18,000 medical and psychological consultations 

R$ 30 million driven to social and health care of the communities 

185,000 pharmacy items acquired and made available 

R$ 6,5 million of equipment for the local forensic medicine facility (Instituto Médico Legal de Belo Horizonte) 

+ 750 million litres of water supplied to the population 

211 Pataxós indigenous people provided with emergency payments and healthcare support

276 people received the R$ 100-thousand donation 

100 people received the R$ 50-thousand donation 

91 people received the R$ 15-thousand donation 

R$ 80 million in financial support to the municipality of Brumadinho 

R$ 258,7 million in financial contributions to 10 municipalities with halted mining operations 

R$ 107 million in financial compensation to the Government of the State of Minas Gerais for the decrease in tax revenue 

R$ 20 million donated to the State Fire Department 

R$ 5 million donated to the State Civil Defence 

R$ 4 million donated to the State Military Police 

Last update in 2020

Progress of Initiatives

Socioeconomics

From a social and economic standpoint, the initiatives aim at recovering the productive capacity of Brumadinho. The study titled ‘Strategy for Transformation of Brumadinho,’ developed by the National Institute of Science and Technology for Public Policies, Strategies and Development (INCT) and the National Institute for Public Policies and Territory Development (INPuT), is one of the external diagnoses underpinning the Comprehensive Repair Plan and points out ways to promote the economic diversification of the municipality while reducing its dependence on mining and creating tools to support a transformation of the local reality.

Such change depends on interconnected and integrated initiatives that will develop the territory as a whole and create a legacy of sustainable development for the city of Brumadinho.

Brumadinho´s Transformation

Environment

To repair the environmental damage, our plan is to fully remove all tailings by 2023 and revegetate the entire area by 2025. Part of this area has already been recovered and part of the original course of the Ferro-Carvão stream was recreated. For more information, access the Repair Report.

Tailings management not startedTailings management startedTailings management concluded

Ongoing recoveryRecovery concluded

The recovery of the Paraopeba river and its biodiversity is one of the most important propositions of our work. We have short, medium, and long-term measures underway. In 2019, we implemented a series of measures that prevented sediment from flowing into the river and contained the tailings.

After containing the tailings and avoiding contamination of the river, we installed two river water treatment plants (ETAFs, Estações de Tratamento de Água Fluvial) that, by July 2020, returned more than 17 billion liters of water to the river – on average five times cleaner than the limit established by the National Council for the Environment (Conama, Conselho Nacional de Meio Ambiente).

Tailings removal retake

The removal stopped in March, because of the coronavirus pandemic, and retaked in August. Up to now, we have already handled approximately 1,8 million m³, which correspondes to 20% of the total.

Dam Safety

B6 Dam, one of Córrego do Feijão remnant geotechinical structures, has received positivity Stability Condition Declaration (DCE) and was moved from level 1 of Mining Dam Emergency Action Plan (PAEBM) having returned to level 0, which attests stability conditions and dan safety.

Emergency works

Vale continues to carry out different emergency works for environmental recovery, containment and removal of tailings, focusing on minimizing the impacts caused.

Containment structures and removal of tailings

The construction and installation of these structures reduces the sediment flow to the Paraopeba River, besides contributing to the cleaning of the river and the Ferro-Carvão stream.

Water treatment

The works focus on the cleaning and returning of treated water to the Ferro-Carvão stream and the Paraopeba River.

Dredging part of the area of the Paraopeba River

Dredging removes the accumulated tailings in the silted region of the Paraopeba River. The dredging is planned to continue until 2020, starting at the confluence of the Ribeirão Ferro-Carvão stream with the Paraopeba River and continuing about 2 km downstream from this point. In this section, it is estimated that the material deposited, leaked from Dam B1 ranges between 300,000 and 350,000 cubic meters.

Water supply system in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region

Vale will invest approximately R$ 450 million in infrastructure works for the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region water supply system. Under the agreement between the company and the Public Prosecutor's Office of Minas Gerais State, with the participation of COPASA, Minas Gerais State and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the following investments will be made:

Construction of a new water catchment system in the Paraopeba river, upstream of the confluence of the river with the Ferro-Carvão stream, in Brumadinho;
Performance of preventive actions in the water catchment of the Velhas river;
Hiring of an external audit company to analyze the projects and to monitor the volume of water stored in the reservoirs of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region.

Water supply system in Pará de Minas

Vale has entered into a Term of Commitment for the execution of works that guarantee the water supply of Pará de Minas. With this, a new water catchment system was built at the confluence of the Moreira and Cova Danta streams (interconnecting with the concessionaire's existing pipeline), and the drilling of new artesian wells and the maintenance of existing ones were carried out. In addition, the construction of a new pipeline is in progress, approximately 50 km long and with a flow rate of 284 liters per second, for water catchment in the Pará River.

Emergency works Reparation Data:

R$ 227.34 million invested in the execution of emergency works for tailings handling

R$ 450 million in works in water catchment systems to supply the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region

Infrastructure and Institutional Management

The implementation of initiatives to improve the quality of life and collective well-being is one of the many work fronts in the process of compensating for the impacts of the B1 dam breach. Defined through active listening of the communities and a partnership with government, these works are primarily focused on urban infrastructure and public facilities.

Some social works have already been completed, such as the Family Health Center and the Day Care Center in Parque da Cachoeira. One of the worst-affected neighborhoods in Brumadinho, Parque da Cachoeira will receive the two structures as social compensation and a way to provide more quality of life and well-being for the residents of the community.

Reparation Report

The Reparation Report presents Vale's actions to minimize the impact caused by the B1 dam breach, showing the evolution of Vale's works in Brumadinho and along the Paraopeba River. We know there is a lot to do. We will keep doing it and reporting back to society.

Click here to access the latest Reparation Report