Judge oders Vale to pay compensation to victims of collapsed Brumadinho dam

In the 1940s Brazilian government created Vale,  (formerly known as Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce ( the Rive Doce Valley Company), the world’s fourth-largest mining company, with revenues of £26bn ($34bn) in 2017 and number one producer and exporter of iron ore, and the second most traded share in Brazil’s stock exchange, behind Petrobras, had been ordered by Judge Elton Pupo Nogueira, to pay compensation for all damages caused by the collapse of the Brumadinho dam in January 2019, one of the worst industrial accident.  248 people were killed as a sea of mud engulfed a staff canteen offices and nearby farms. Twenty-two people are still missing following the collapse of the Feijao Dam on 25 January.

£2.3bn of Vale’s assets frozen by courts should remain blocked and the funds should be used to make compensation payments to affected families and businesses.

“The value of the compensation is not limited to the deaths resulting from the event it also affects the environment on a local and regional level as well as the economic activity in the affected region”.

The Judge also pointed out that Vale’s defence team had not denied responsibility for the damage caused by the collapse of the dam.

Brazilian Senate urged prosecutors to bring charges ranging from environmental damage to involuntary manslaughter against top managers at Vale at the time of the dam collapse, although Vale disagreed with the Senate’s recommendation and insisted that senior company officials had not been aware of any imminent risks at the dam prior to its collapse.

Relatives of the families who died while staying at Pousada Nova Estancia buried at the Vale Dam in Brumadinho is seeking a compensation of over £3m per deceased relative and the company should issue a formal apology to the victims. The lawsuit claiming a total of £10m was filed by family members of siblings  Camila and Luix Taliberti Ribeiro da.

The dam near the south-eastern town of Barao de Cocais could burst next week if the current pace of movement in the embankment of the mine pit nearby continues Vale told prosecutors. The dam contains waste from the Gongo Soco Mine inactive since 2016.  The complex in Minas Gerais state is located 40 miles from where the Brumadinho dam collapsed in January without any warning, sending down a torrent of toxic sludge that buried some of the dam’s facilities and a village.

In 2015,  a dam owned by Vale along with BHPO Billiton, burst in Mariana, also in Minas Gerais killing 19 people.