Three years after ordering the evacuation of the risk area in its Itatiuiuçu dam, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the Brazilian arm of ArcelorMittal has not established a specific deadline for the decommissioning of the dam.
According to the state legislative body ALMG, the dam is at danger level 3, indicating the risk of collapse, and should have been decommissioned by Jan. 25, 2022, along with all waste dams with the same upstream technology of the Brumadinho dam that collapsed in 2019.
The delay was admitted by Wagner Barbosa, general manager for mining activities of ArcelorMittal, during a court hearing this week in the human rights commission of ALMG. He was quoted as saying that the decommissioning plan will be concluded, and an official deadline will established by November 2022.
According to Barbosa, the company is building a structure downstream to hold the rejects that should be removed from the dam, adding that without such structure, it is not possible to remove the waste from the dam. He also mentioned that the structure of Itatiaiuçu is being reinforced, to reduce the risk of collapse.