Mayor says Vale cut between 80% and 90% of production in Brucutu – Economy

Vale confirmed that he was aware of the decision of the 22nd District Court of Belo Horizonte, filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Minas Gerais, which determined that the company • Refrained from dumping or carrying out any activity that could increase the risk of the Laranjeiras, Menezes II, Capitão do Mato, Dique B, Taquaras, Fork I, Fork II and Fork III dams.

"With the exception of the Laranjeiras dam, conventional structures are designed to retain sediment and not to remove residues.All dams are approved and their respective stability certificates are in effect", explains the miner.

Vale therefore understands that there is no technical basis or risk badessment to justify a decision to suspend the operation of any of these dams. The company estimates that the impact of the temporary shutdown of the Laranjeiras dam at the Brucutu mine (Minas complex in the center) is estimated at about 30 million tonnes of iron ore per year.

Vale states that it will adopt the appropriate judicial measures with respect to this decision and recalls that all the necessary emergency measures to badist the victims and mitigate the impacts resulting from the failure of the dam I of the Feijão Stream mine have been duly adopted.

In an important fact communicated to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), the company informs that among the dams covered by the court order, the three in which the upstream methodology was used, Forquilha I, Forquilha II and Forquilha III, were already inoperative and covered by the accelerated dismantling plan announced on July 29, the other structures being traditional.

Antônio Carlos Noronha Bicalho, mayor of the mining town of São Gonçalo do Rio Bene, told Estadão / Broadcast that between 80% and 90% of the production of the Brucutu mine , had been paralyzed by a court order. According to him, the Vale announced the closure of his operations last Saturday. "Only ore (ore) production is normal," he said.

Mariana Metabase union president Angelo Eleutério, who represents the employees of the Brucutu mine, also confirmed the information, adding that this closure was not initially planned as part of the decommissioning plan announced on Tuesday. last week. According to Eleuterio, Vale's management informed the union that he was appealing the court's decision.

According to a Vale press release of October 7, 2016, the production capacity of the Brucutu mining unit is close to 30 million tonnes. "The unit remains the largest producing iron ore mine in Minas Gerais and the second largest in the country, behind only Carajás, in Pará," the company said at the time.