Minas Gerais state governor, Romeu Zema, signed an executive decree tightening even more local regulation for building iron ore waste dams.
The new regulation, nicknamed “no more wave of mud” bans upstream iron ore dams Vale’s Brumadinho dam that collapsed on January 25, killing at least 179 people, amid expectations of an even higher number of deaths, as many victims remain missing.
The executive order was signed on Friday. Local environmental regulator, Semad, will take the regulation into effect. A similar regulation will be issued by Brazilian mining agency, ANM, as reported by SteelOrbis. The federal regulation will ban upstream dams effectively on August 15, 2020.
By August this year, companies are required to deactivate and decommission any remaining upstream dams.