Brazil’s Minas Gerais state environmental system, Sisema, has issued new rules for companies like Vale and others to change dams to a safer construction method.
Dams like Vale’s Brumadinho dam that collapsed in January 2019, killing 259 people, will no longer be allowed. As a result, companies will need to “de-characterize” or change existing upstream dams.
Sisema estimated 43 dams in Minas Gerais state, where Vale has 80 percent of its dams, will need to adequate to the new regulation. Companies will have 60 days following the Minas Gerais state notification to submit their documents with the updated regulation.
The updated regulation has also made a distinction between for the decommissioning of dams. Depending of the risk level of each dam, different procedures shall be adopted, SteelOrbis has learned.