The French mining company Vallourec agreed to pay R$ 73 million to compensate for environmental impacts and indemnify the collective moral damages caused at the beginning of the year in Minas Gerais. On February 8, a dike at the Pau Branco Mine, in the municipality of Nova Lima (MG), overflowed?? There was no rupture of the structure, nor deaths, but the federal highway BR-040 was hit by the mud and was closed for almost two days.
The agreement around the value was sealed with the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais (MPMG), with the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and with four state environmental agencies: the Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad), the State Institute of Forests (IEF), the State Environmental Foundation (Feam) and the Water Management Institute (Igam). The mining company will also adopt various environmental repair measures and guarantee the safety of its structures.
Vallourec also recognized the administrative penalty imposed by Semad. She must pay a fine of R$ 80 million in ten days. This amount represents less than a third of the original charge. Shortly after the episode, the environmental agency imposed a fine of R$ 288 million. However, Semad admitted in the agreement that the calculation mistakenly found Vallourec to be a repeat infringer. In this sense, the fine was recalculated and the mining company agreed to withdraw the funds contesting the penalty.
Impacts
According to a note released by the Federal Public Ministry, the overflow caused environmental, social and economic impacts in the region and studies are still in progress.
“It is already known that the sub-basin of the Cachoeirinha creek and Lagoa do Miguelão were directly affected, with changes in the quality of the water, suppression of vegetation and silting up of the banks and beds of the natural watercourses existing there. habitat of wild fauna”, records the text. Still according to the MPF, the mud reached three conservation units.
At Pau Branco Mine, Vallourec adopts a dry stacking method, also known by the English expression dry stacking (dry stacking): the filtered water is reused in the production process, while the waste is disposed of in piles, thus dispensing with the use of dams.
This alternative, although more expensive, has become attractive amid changes in Brazilian environmental legislation adopted after the tragedies that occurred in Mariana (MG) and Brumadinho (MG). Many of the large mining companies operating in the country, such as Vale and Usiminas, have moved in this direction in some of their units.
Despite the optimism publicly expressed by mining companies with this method, the episode that occurred at Mina Pau Branco raised alert?? The overflow occurred in the dike that captures rainwater passing through the tailings pile. The water level rose because part of the piled up material slipped into the reservoir.
At the time, the engineer and professor at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), Marcos Massao Futai, told the Brazil Agency it is necessary to deepen the knowledge about the method. “These are things to be studied. These piles are starting to be built and will reach considerable heights. But it should take a few decades for us to reach this scenario,” he said.
Measurements
The agreement is a development of the negotiations that had already generated a preliminary term, signed a few days after the overflow. On that occasion, emergency measures were agreed upon, such as reimbursement of expenses incurred by public bodies, the elaboration of a security plan and monitoring of the area and the adequacy of escape routes, meeting points and alarm systems, always considering the worst possible scenario. . Assistance measures were also defined for residents who had to be displaced.
The evolution of negotiations led to the new agreement. The R$ 73 million will be allocated to socio-environmental or socio-economic projects located in the area of direct or indirect influence of the Pau Branco Mine, to support entities involved in environmental protection, for public funds and for projects initiated by the Minas Gerais environmental agencies.
In addition to paying the amount, Vallourec must submit monthly reports on stability and safety at the Pau Branco Mine, carry out continuous monitoring of the structures and hire an independent audit to monitor compliance with the agreed obligations.
The mining company will also need to guarantee resources and inputs for the operation of provisional structures at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center (CRAS), of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama). The place where it was kept since 2009 was hit by mud and had to be deactivated, with no definitive solution yet.
