Mining Companies in Brazil to Strengthen Safety Rules for Tailings Dams

Written by Paulo Nogueira

Published on 21/12/2020 at 06:31

Updated on 21/12/2020 at 07:00

Esforços de reconstrução da barragem de rejeitos de Fundão da Samarco em 2017. (Imagem cortesia da BHP)

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The Objective Is To Reduce Or Even Avoid Accidents Similar To Those Involving The Mining Giants Vale And Samarco In The Past

The National Mining Agency (ANM) announced that it would hold a public hearing on the new guidelines to strengthen the rules for safety and inspection of mining dams, mainly in the way companies manage tailings.

According to the agency, the suggestions obtained during the process, which is expected to last 45 days, will be used to outline the new standards.

Scrutiny around the safety of tailings dams has dramatically increased in the past two years, following the collapse of the dam at Brumadinho, Vale (NYSE: VALE) , which killed 270 people. It also triggered a global investigation into the status of 726 tailings dams.

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Global Efforts In The Mining Industry

After the accident, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), an industry group based in London that represents 27 large mining companies, formed an independent panel of experts to develop global standards for tailings facilities.

The Church of England, which invests in mining companies through its pensions for retired clergy, along with its partners, launched a global inquiry in April 2019 into the waste storage systems of over 700 resource companies.

It now calls on companies to regularly disclose data about tailings dams.

The Responsible Mining Foundation (RMF), based in Switzerland, published a study in early April of this year showing that investor-led action resulted in greater transparency regarding the status of these facilities.

However, the vast majority of mining companies still need to demonstrate that they are reviewing how they effectively manage risks related to tailings.

Mining Companies in Brazil to Strengthen Safety Rules for Tailings Dams

The Objective Is To Reduce Or Even Avoid Accidents Similar To Those Involving The Mining Giants Vale And Samarco In The Past

Global Efforts In The Mining Industry

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Mining Companies in Brazil to Strengthen Safety Rules for Tailings Dams

The Objective Is To Reduce Or Even Avoid Accidents Similar To Those Involving The Mining Giants Vale And Samarco In The Past

Global Efforts In The Mining Industry

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

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A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

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