Vale says rains overflow Brazil mine pit

Vale (NYSE: VALE) said sediment-laden water overflowed from a pit at the Fábrica iron ore mine in Brazil’s Minas Gerais State early Sunday morning.

No injuries occurred and the incident had no impact on residents or surrounding communities, Marcelo Feriozzi Bacci, Vale’s executive vice president of finance, said Monday in a U.S. regulatory filing. Water overflows identified in Congonhas and Ouro Preto on Sunday have been contained, he added.

Neither situation is related to Vale’s dams in the region, which remain unchanged in their stability and safety conditions and continue to be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days week, the company said. No mining tailings were released, Vale stressed – only water with soil.

Minas Gerais state government said overflowing water from the pit owned caused environmental damage as it reached the local Maranhao River, Reuters subsequently reported. The incident followed heavy rain in the region, flooding a site owned by steelmaker CSN, Reuters added.

Officials told

Vale said it immediately informed authorities and has begun an assessment to determine the causes of the incident. Lessons learned “will be promptly incorporated into the company’s rainfall management plans,” Feriozzi Bacci said.

Brazil’s biggest mining company has a history of high-profile dam failures in its home country. The Fundao dam – operated by Vale’s Samarco joint venture with BHP (NYSE: BHP) – released 40 million cubic metres of mining waste when it burst in November 2015, devastating communities and killing 19 people in the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster.

In 2019, some 270 people died when a tailings dam at Vale’s Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine collapsed, releasing a mudflow that submerged the operation’s headquarters.