Semad, a local environmental authority in the state of Minas Gerais, announced on Monday all Samarco’s activities in the city of Mariana are currently suspended, as a result of an iron ore waste dam burst last Friday. Local authorities said two people died and at least 25 are missing due to the disaster.
According to Semad, Samarco, a 50/50 JV between Brazil’s Vale and BHP Billiton, is “to only authorized take emergency actions,” which are related to “minimizing the impact of the dam burst” as way to avoid “new damages.”
Semad said Brazilian laws allow the entity to temporarily suspend Samarco’s activities, so it can determine the causes of the burst and the consequences of the tragedy for the health of the local population and to the environment.
On Sunday, the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais state (MP MG), a body of independent public prosecutors, ordered Samarco to pay a temporary compensation to the families of the victims. Families of those confirmed dead or missing will be entitled to a monthly minimum wage. If Samarco doesn’t comply with MP’s orders up to in five days, the prosecutors will appeal to higher courts in order to force Samarco to do so.
Semad said the company’s mining license was suspended on Friday, but the decision was only made available to the press this Monday.
BHP Billiton said the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, “will go to Brazil this week to understand first-hand the human, environmental and operational impacts of the incident.”
Billiton also said it is reviewing its iron ore production guidance for the 2016 financial year due to what it defined as an “incident.”
Analysts said this week pellet prices are expected to rise, as a result of Samarco’s dam burst.
Samarco said operations at its Ubu unity, in the state of Espirito Santo, will be halted, as inventories finish.