Vale raises alert for three inactive tailings dams - Mining Software - Technical Assurance, Resource & Mineral Governance - Enterprise SaaS
Vale raises alert for three inactive tailings dams

Vale raises alert for three inactive tailings dams

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    Brazilian mining giantĀ ValeĀ (NYSE:VALE)Ā has issued aĀ level one emergency alert for three inactive tailings dams in the country’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The miner, the world’s largest iron ore producer, said the populations downstream of the dams 6 and 7A at the Aguas Claras mine, at Nova Lima and the Area IX dam at the FĆ”brica mine in Ouro Preto did not need to be evacuated. ā€œThe decision to raise the level of emergency is a preventive measure until the technical analysis of the structures is completed,ā€ ValeĀ said in the statement.
ā€œTHE MOVE IS JUST A PREVENTIVE MEASURE UNTIL A TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURES IS COMPLETEDā€ Vale
It did not expect any impact on its 2020 production plan, which has been forecast at between 310 and 330 million tonnes of iron ore. That projection, revised in April, considers as much as 15 million lost tonnes from eventual covid-19 impacts. The announcement is the latest in aĀ series of emergency level protocols being activatedĀ for Vale dams, with the miner’s facilities under increased scrutiny since the Brumadinho tailings dam collapse in January 2019, whichĀ killed at least 270 people and caused widespread damage. The mining giant faces legal action over the incident, the deadliest in Brazil’s mining history, including allegations that Vale wasĀ aware of the dam’s unstable conditionĀ years before the accident happened. In January, state prosecutors charged Fabio Schvartsman, the chief executive at the time of the burst, andĀ 15 other peopleĀ with homicide. Schvartsman left his position at the company in March 2019. They also charged Vale and its German contractor, TUV SUD, with environmental crimes, as the burst dam unleashed an avalanche of muddy mining waste that polluted the nearby town of Brumadinho, water streams, and agricultural land.

Mounting pressure

In May, a Brazilian judge ordered the company to set aside 7.9 billion reais (about $1.5 billion)Ā to pay potential fines relatedĀ to last year’s disaster. The figure added to the 1 billion reaisĀ ($260m at the time) in frozen fundsĀ a federal court ordered Vale to pay affected communitiesĀ shortly after the deadly incident.
Vale raises alert of potential failure at three damns
Destruction caused by spilled tailings from the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine in January 2019. (Image courtesy of Felipe Werneck | Ibama.)
The Rio de Janeiro-based company is also facing pressure on other fronts. Earlier this week it wasĀ ordered to shutter its Itabira complex,Ā which accounts for about 10% of production, due to an outbreak of covid-19.  

Tailings in the spotlight

The tragic 2019 incident has triggered over the past year several criminal investigations,Ā including aĀ global inquiry into the status of 726 tailing dams. It has also put the safety of those structures under the microscope. Tailings Storage Facilities - TSF - Mining - Decipher - DecipherGreen - Tailings management - tailings dam monitoring - tailings storage facility software - environmental obligations software The International Council on Mining and MetalsĀ (ICMM), a London-based industry group representing 27 major mining companies, formedĀ an independent panel of expertsĀ in charge of developing global standards for tailings facilities. The Church of England, which invests in mining companies through its pensions for retired clergy, along with its partners,Ā launched a global inquiryĀ in April 2019 into the mining waste storage systems of more than 700 resources companies. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ne85GPdIrQ[/embedyt]   It now asks companies to disclose data on tailings dams on a regular basis. Switzerland-basedĀ Responsible Mining FoundationĀ (RMF)Ā published a study in early AprilĀ this year, showing that investor-led action had resulted in improved transparency regarding the state of such facilities. The vast majority of miners, however, have yet to demonstrate they are reviewing how they effectively manage tailings-related risks. The non-profit, funded by the Dutch and Swiss governments and some small philanthropic organizations, saidĀ that while a global standard on tailings management is a welcome initiative, it could be strengthened to become significant in terms of tailings safety.  

How to prepare for the next round of Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative questions

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW-MwjxkHfM[/embedyt]   Originally published by Mining.com

Effectively monitor yourĀ tailings storage facility with Decipher

Tailings Storage Facilities - TSF - Mining - Decipher - DecipherGreen - Tailings management - tailings dam monitoring - tailings storage facility software - environmental obligations software Decipher is designed to provide you with key data and insights, enabling you to effectively monitor your TSF and your environmental obligations and compliance. Our solution can be securely accessed by industry, regulators, designers and operators involved in the management of TSFs. Decipher offers a comprehensive and functionally rich solution which combines regulatory (Compliance Management Software), mining waste management, stakeholder engagement, environmental monitoring, and environmental management system (EMS) tools to assist with tailings management:
  • View real-time data and receive exceedance alerts
  • Monitor land movement with remote sensing and InSAR datasets
  • Visualise real-time LiDAR data with insights into dam movement
  • Securely store and access all of your tailings data in the one place
  • Upload and reference key documentation
  • Visualise facilities across multiple sites in a single screen on a geospatial map
  • Monitor your facilities with InSAR, LiDAR, DEM and more
  • Capture a wide range of monitoring data and indicators such as surface and groundwater, decant pond water levels and quality, and embankment conditions
  • Capture and track obligations and conditions around your licence to operate to manage your key risks and actions
  • Action and task delegation for data collection with reminders
  • Maintain and track environmental monitoring compliance limits and exceedances
  • Manage and engage with all of your stakeholders with one central repository
  • Convert your engagements into actionable outcomes
  • Forecast, plan and track your sites activities using IBM’s Weather data
  • Create corporate report templates and meet requests for data provision from industry groups such as ICMM, Global Tailings Portal, PRI and UNEP
  • Integration capability with third party systems or public portals such as the Global Tailings Portal
 

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