After two collapses, a third dam at ‘imminent risk of rupture’
A dam holding back mining waste from a Brazilian miner
is at risk of collapsing, a government audit says. The same
company was responsible for two tailings dam collapses since
2015 that unleashed millions of gallons of toxic sludge and killed
hundreds of people in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas
Gerais, which has been known worldwide as the Brumadinho
Dam Collapse.
The retired Xingu dam at Alegria iron ore mine in
Mariana — the same municipality where a tailings dam collapsed
in November 2015 in what’s considered Brazil’s worst
environmental disaster to date — is at “serious and imminent risk
of rupture by liquefaction,” according to an audit report from a
local state organ. The report says the Xingu dam “does not
present stability conditions.” “It is, therefore, an extremely
serious situation that puts at risk workers who perform activities,
access or remain on the crest, on the downstream slopes, in the
flood area and in the area on the tailings upstream of the dam,”
the document says.
The ANM (National Mining Agency) rated the Xingu
dam’s safety at level 2 in a September 2020 assessment, after
requesting the company to improve the structure. The miner has
fulfilled part of the request, but has sought a deadline extension
for other repair works, without major changes in the structure. In
its most recent inspection, ANM identified structural problems
where no corrective measures had been implemented.
Internet: <news.mongabay.com> (adapted).