Prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais along with the country’s mining regulator, the National Mining Agency (ANM), jointly inspected eight unregistered Vale dams.
The regulator said the eight dams are inactive and weren’t registered within the regulator’s registry. They also have never been inspected by a regulator, ANM said.
Both prosecutors and ANM said the eight dams are located in the cities of Nova Loma, Ouro Preto and Catas Altas, all in the state of Minas Gerais.
Separately, Vale said it settled a $25 million class action lawsuit filed by investors over the Samarco dam burst in November 2015, which killed 19 people and halted operations at pellets producer Samarco, a joint venture owned by Vale and BHP Billiton.
Vale said the case was dismissed after the settlement at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.