Vale removes 12th dam from state of emergency, in Minas Gerais

Vale’s Peneirinha dam had its emergency level removed by the National Mining Agency (ANM), bringing to 12 the number of structures that have undergone this process in the last two years. The dam is located at the Horizontes mine, in the Vargem Grande Complex, in Nova Lima, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte.

Vale still has another 19 dams with some level of emergency. Of these, all of those that received waste are inactive, according to the company. The company’s expectation for 2025, according to a presentation to investors held in December, is to reduce the number of structures in this situation to nine, none at level 3, the most acute.

Vale has been seeking to improve the safety conditions of its structures after the disasters in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019), in which dams broke and caused disasters.

The mining company reported that it has eliminated 13 upstream dams and is de-characterizing another 17. The goal is to de-characterize them all by 2035, in accordance with the commitment signed in February 2022 with public authorities. “These dams are permanently monitored and receive continuous actions to improve safety,” Vale said in a statement.

The Peneirinha dam contains around one million cubic meters of waste and was built using the centerline raising method. It has been inactive since 1986 and no longer receives waste. The structure underwent geotechnical investigations and laboratory tests, which confirmed the safety and stability conditions of the bus, the company said in a statement.

“The improvement in the safety conditions of Vale’s structures reflects this effort,” said Geraldo Paes, global director of geotechnics at Vale, in the note.

State Agency

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