Brazilian mining regulator, ANM, is reportedly using only 40 percent of its budget to oversee dams, despite the two recent Vale-related deadly dam bursts in Mariana and Brumadinho.
According to a media report, ANM used BRL 25 million ($4.6 million) out of a total approved budget of BRL 63 million ($11.7 million) to oversee dams in the accumulated period of 2016 until October 2020. In addition, the regulator may see a cut of 31 percent in its total budget for 2020.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the reduced budget for 2020 could hamper the ANM’s efforts to regulate the sector.
Earlier in September, director of ANM, Victor Hugo Froner Bicca, sent a document to the Ministry of Economy arguing the agency has barely been able to manage its role as a regulator. Bicca argued that to properly execute its regulator role, ANM would need at least a BRL 155 million ($28.7 million).
The media report said ANM could raise as much as BRL 7 billion ($1.2 billion) in taxes and revenues if it was able to perform its regulator duties.