One year on, Samarco focus shifts to long-term rebuilding efforts – BHP

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Marking the one year anniversary of the deadly Samarco disaster, joint venture (JV) partner BHP Billiton said on Friday that more than 3 000 people have been mobilised to rebuild infrastructure, provide community and social services and to prepare for the oncoming wet season.

Brazil’s worst-ever environmental disaster was recorded in November last year following a dam burst at the Samarco operation, which resulted in 19 deaths.

“The Samarco dam failure was a terrible tragedy and our thoughts remain with those affected. One year on, our commitment to do the right thing for the people and the environment is unwavering,” BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie said.

“Our initial priority was to support Samarco in the humanitarian response so that it was conducted as effectively as possible. Now the emphasis has shifted to the Renova Foundation, which will implement the long-term programmes to restore the environment and rebuild the communities.”

Over 90% of the foundation’s programmes have begun, including relocation and compensation programmes.

Remediation of the Rio Doce river is also under way, and is expected to take between three and five years of intensive work, followed by several years of natural recovery and monitoring.

In the meantime, BHP is hopeful of a restart of Samarco, with Mackenzie saying it was important for the local economy and several thousand employees.

“Restart has to make economic sense and have a practical set of approvals and processes in place from the authorities. We will only restart when it is safe to do so,” Mackenzie said.

BHP owns the Samarco operations in a JV with Vale. According to Reuters, BHP and Vale do not agree about how to restart Samarco.

Citing Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira, the newswire says Vale believes Samarco has to share infrastructure with surrounding mines to be viable, rather than relying on the “old structure” of tailings storage.