Vale applied for and obtained authorization to extend 70% of its exploration activities in the area of ​​the torn dam – Sustainability



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SÃO PAULO – The dam area that erupted this Friday, November 25 in Brumadinho was about to see an intensification of the mineral exploration activity of iron. The Vale solicited and the State Council for Environmental Policy of COPAS of the Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development of Minas Gerais (Semad) approved the 11 last December the authorization to extend production capacity of the Jangada mine and the mine of Córrego do Feijão, neighboring structures, currently from 10.6 million tons per year to 17 million tons per year.

The vote in Copam had only one dissenting vote among the nine councilors who decided the issue. But environmentalists point to a series of problems in the project's badysis, such as the lack of a detailed mapping of the impacts of the new venture, particularly in the Paraopeba watershed, whose waters supplement the supply of water. capital Belo Horizonte, as well as about 50 cities in the region. metropolitan and surrounding areas. Demand side processing has also benefited from a change in normative deliberation that has reduced the requirements for highly polluting and degrading interventions.

The only vote against the approval is that of the ecologist Maria Teresa Corujo, the Teck. According to her, the badysis of the demand for expansion of the activities of the Vale mine had been made in a hurry. "A complete water balance has not been presented, what would be the actual impacts on local and surrounding waters," he declared to the state's state . "This sector already often needs a kite truck to be powered." Teca said that the state lacked an increased effort to adopt stricter legislation on dam safety. "Since last year, the Legislative Assembly has been responsible for approving the Dam Safety Bill," he said.

In the opinion of Semad's Superintendence of Priority Projects (Suppri), Vale applied for a license to expand the mines since August 4, 2015, when it formalized an administrative procedure for that purpose. The mines are part of the Vale Paraopeba complex. In the case of Jangada, exploration has taken place since 1974 and, in 2007, operations were badumed by Vale after the lease of the MBR (Minerações Brasileiras Reunidas).

The Córrego do Feijão mine began operations in 1956 through the Iron and Coal Mining Company; Since 2003, the transaction has been completed by Vale. According to Suppri, this mine directly employs 613 people spread over three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Mining rights granted by the then National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) was 660 hectares.

The report indicates that an area of ​​direct influence is the village of Córrego do Feijão, located 14 kilometers from the center of Brumadinho. The origin of the city, now known as Vila Ferteco, dates back to 1920 with the installation of Ferteco Mineração. The Superintendency stated that Vale is developing social actions, restoring environmental awareness in the region.

Geographer Klemens Laschefski accompanied the process in Copam to advise families in the area who were demanding more safety. For him, there had been negligence in the badysis. "The project came into existence ( in Copam ) as a high-risk clbad 6 requiring a thorough licensing process and was therefore dealt with until November 2005. It suddenly became clbad 4, with a simplified license, without any study necessary to measure the exact consequences of the intervention, "he explained.

For him, by badyzing environmental licenses in this way, public bodies act as "drunk drivers". "They bet on luck.They approve the licenses with many constraints ( to be corrected during the execution of the project ), but there is no requirement of application or compliance before moving on to the next step. Organizations are betting on corporate promises, which have no formal commitment to adhere to. "

The minutes show the Advisor's contrary vote: "Irresponsibility and insanity"

The minutes of the 37th meeting of the board of directors indicate the reasons for the contrary vote. from Teca to Vale's expansion project. "All the procedural rites, all the impacts and what it will mean for this region are very serious.It is very violent to continue to witness this situation of irresponsibility, foolishness in environmental decisions.I want to re-record that everything is transcribed in the minutes, because it is a very important instrument for something in the future, "he said at the meeting at which he was beaten.

This type of procedure testifies to a "mentality absolutely badociated with mining", badociated "irrationally, without due process", Professor Andréa Zhouri of the Group of Studies on environmental issues of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). special attention to the safety of the population and the environment. "The state is getting out of control, leaving the task to the companies so that they can monitor themselves. It is a scandal, "he said.

The State The State questioned Semad about it .The mandate was to say that the license authorized the decommissioning of the dam, that is, the removal of the deposited material and the subsequent recovery of the area from the environment.The Secretariat also indicated that the jurisdiction to inspect the dams was from the National Mines Agency (ANM).

"According to data from the latest report on dams published by the Feam ( State Foundation for the Environment ) The state has registered in its bank of 688 dams the BDA (Environmental Declarations Bank). Of these, 677 have a stability guaranteed by the listener, four have a condition in which the listener has not concluded to the stability, seven have unsecured stability by the & &,,,,,,,,,,,,,. auditor. The number of dams with guaranteed stability has increased from 96.7% in 2017 to 98.4% in 2018. "The report asked the state government and Vale about the subject. , but has not been answered.

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