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BRASÍLIA – The geologist of the
Vale
Cesar Augusto Paulino Grandchamp admitted in his testimony before the
Federal Police
(PF) received an email on January 10 confirming an anomaly in the reading of one of the piezometers, equipment measuring the pressure in the waste rock dams of the Córrego do Feijão mine, in
Brumadinho.
The rupture of the structure, 15 days later, killed at least 157 people. According to the geologist, it is not "normal" that the mining company took action before January 25, the day of the tragedy.
"You received in your mailbox the reading of an abnormal piezometer on 10/01/2019, and the message indicated that they were badyzing the problem, which is not normal that a reading of it, made on the 10th, reaches the 25th day without any evaluation or effective action ", indicates the transcription of the testimony.
Grandchamp was one of three Vale employees arrested last week as part of an investigation into Brumadinho's dam officials. He was released Thursday, two days after the decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
PF has already identified e-mail exchanges between Vale employees and TÜV SÜD (which published the report attesting to the security of the structure), which shows that the company had already checked irregularities a few days before the incident.
The geologist is Vale's first employee to confirm that he received an email informing him of an anomaly in the dam's measurements. He also stated that he was not responsible for the area and that he did not have the technical knowledge to carry the case through, but that the meter data had been sent at the geotechnical direction of Vale.
According to Grandchamp, the e-mail of the 10 would have been the first to be sent automatically by the piezometer. So he also received the message. The geologist also explained that he acted on request in the company, as a "kind of consultant", which can be activated to monitor up to 42 Vale dams.
Drainage Incident in 2018
The geologist reported that in June 2018, six months before the dam broke, there was an incident in dam drainage likely to cause erosion. According to Grandchamp, the necessary measures were taken at that time and soon after, the meters returned to normal pressure levels, which led the team to exclude the need to evacuate the zoned. The geologist also said that the miner's superiors had become aware of the episode.
"The events of June 2018 were reported by the declarant to Joaquim Toledo (Executive Director of the South-East Corridor), who in turn reported to the Director of the South-East Corridor, Silmar Magalhães, that Silmar was subordinate to director Peter Poppinga, who is subordinate to the president of VALE S / A ", the statement said.
As revealed by the GLOBO,
Poppinga is one of the accused accused of murder in the case of the collapse of the Samarco mine in Samarco, Mariana, and participated in one of the summit leadership meetings Vale (one of Samarco's shareholders) with the federal government.
According to Grandchamp, after the incident last June, an "informal incident badessment committee" was formed by Vale and TÜV SÜD technicians, as well as two other external consultants. After some discussion, the group would have understood that it was necessary to use a technique to improve the safety of the dam when installing drains made on site by Vale.
"That the declarant has the last word on what to do, as a precaution, he understood not to apply the technique DHP (the first proposed by the group), but to ask the TÜV SÜD to present alternatives with a view to: improving the safety of drilling or drainage, TÜV SÜD presented some alternatives, but basically summarizes the drilling through thinner and shallower drains, which, in the opinion of the declarant , could lead to the same problem, "said the geologist your testimony.
According to him, about seven business proposals of different technologies for dam drainage were received, but he did not take notice of the proposal that in January this year and six months after, the company had not yet defined its definition. what technology would be implemented.
"That the declarant made arrangements to meet with Flavio Nunes (a VALE employee), geologist responsible for the drilling contract, that these contacts were established at the end of 2018, it was not possible to define the technology to adopt until the date when the dam broke out ", indicates the transition.
In a note, Vale reported that "it is important to note that there was no trace of an increase in the level of water in the mbad of the dam "and that" the data indicates a reduction of the water level in the main part of the structure ".
"After installing deep horizontal drains as an additional safety measure after regular audits in 2018, a check was performed on the entire dam and no abnormalities were detected. Two audits were conducted in June and September of 2018 by an internationally renowned company, which testified to the physical and hydraulic safety of the structure, "says the text.
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