How an Environmental Disaster Changed Brazil's Mining Industry
- Metal companies have had to change how they react to accidents
- Samarco disaster gave mining a ‘bad image’: ex-Vale executive
The remains of homes damaged by collapse of the Samarco iron-ore mine dam in Paracatu de Baixo, Brazil, in 2016.
Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
The future of some of the world’s biggest mining operations remains mired in uncertainty after a fatal dam spill helped transform Brazil’s relatively light corporate scrutiny into a legal minefield.
The 2015 disaster at the Samarco iron-ore mine, which left 19 dead, precipitated a cascade of legal issues and challenges for the still-shut venture owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd. Mining’s reputation in Brazil was further tarnished this year when an alleged waste-water leak at the world’s largest alumina refinery, owned by Oslo-based Norsk Hydro ASA, led to a court-ordered 50 percent production curtailment.