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Recently, The Mining Company Vale Was Condemned to Pay R$ 1 Million for Each Fatal Victim of the Brumadinho Disaster in Minas Gerais
On Monday (07/05), the mining company Vale appealed the decision of the 5th Labor Court of the Regional Labor Court of Betim (MG) that condemned the company to pay R$ 1 million in compensation for moral damages for each worker killed in the collapse of the Córrego do Feijão Dam, in Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais. See also: Vale Mining Announces It Will Invest US$ 6 Billion to Reduce Carbon Emissions by 2030
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Vale Mining and The Compensation
The presiding judge of the 5th Labor Court of Betim, Minas Gerais, Viviane Célia Ferreira Ramos Correa, condemned Vale mining to pay R$ 1 million in moral damages for each worker killed in the collapse of the Córrego do Feijão Dam in Brumadinho, which occurred on January 25, 2019, making it the worst workplace accident in Brazil in terms of loss of human life and the second-largest industrial disaster of the century.
The compensation that Vale will pay covers the direct relatives of those affected by the accident and will be allocated to the estates and heirs. The spill of mining waste on January 25, 2019, caused the death of 270 people, of which 137 would be direct employees of the mining company, according to the plaintiffs, which amounts to a total of R$ 137 million.
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In the action, the Metabase Brumadinho Union claimed that Vale’s compensation payments to families were intended to repair the moral damage suffered by the victims’ relatives, such as parents, children, wives, and siblings. In the decision on that day (06/09), the condemnation targets the moral damage suffered by the victim themselves, for having their life shortened.
The Company Asks That The Action Be Rejected
If the Labor Court decides to uphold the condemnation, the mining company’s defense requests a reduction in the number of relatives of deceased workers eligible for compensation. Vale’s defense argues in the appeal that the condemnation of R$ 1 million per victim is “absurd.”
According to the first-instance decision, the compensation will be paid to the estates and heirs of the 131 direct workers of the mining company who died in the waste spill in January 2019, totaling R$ 131 million. In the appeal, Vale’s lawyers request that 21 of the 131 deceased workers be removed from the action, claiming they do not belong to the union category. They also seek the exclusion of workers who have already filed individual actions or reached agreements with the company, with a release clause.
The claim for moral damages was presented by Metabase-Brumadinho (Union of Workers in the Iron and Basic Metals Extraction Industry of Brumadinho and Region).
See Also: Vale Mining Starts Commissioning Ship Loader 6 at Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in Maranhão
Last Friday (07/02), Vale mining informed the market that it is commissioning activities on ship loader 6 at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís, in the state of Maranhão, after five months of maintenance downtime. The mining company also stated that the maintenance of CN6, which resulted in the replacement of over 60% of its components, did not impact the monthly iron ore shipment schedule of the terminal.
Vale also emphasized in a statement that on January 14, 2021, a fire occurred in CN6 located at berth South of Pier IV, an incident that was followed by maintenance activities. During the maintenance period of ship loader 6, Pier IV maintained its shipping activities using its second ship loader, which was not affected by the fire.
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