More than 400 cities in Minas Gerais are directly involved in mining, one of the state’s main economic activities. One of these cities is Mariana, which was deeply affected by the collapse of the Fundão dam owned by the mining company Samarco in 2015.
Nine years after the disaster, the reconstruction of the affected areas depends on the recovery of the company responsible for the collapse. Samarco, which was paralyzed for five years, resumed operations at the end of 2020 and is now operating at 30% of its production capacity.
New waste system
The mining company is looking for solutions to resume production more safely. Now, all the waste is filtered and deposited dry in deposition piles, instead of being sent to dams.
“We modified our production process so that all the waste is filtered and deposited dry from the waste deposit piles,” explains a Samarco employee.
Economic and environmental impact
The collapse of the Fundão dam had a huge economic and environmental impact on the region. According to FGV, around two million people were affected, 19 lost their lives and the environment was severely damaged.
“It was a huge impact that we caused directly and indirectly on the economy of Ouro Preto, Mariana, Anchieta and Guarapari”, acknowledges the employee.
Monitoring and inspection
After the accident, there were major changes in the monitoring and inspection of mining activities. Samarco now has a control room that monitors the entire mining process from Minas Gerais to Espírito Santo.
Authorities also recognize the need to improve the federative relationship and shared responsibilities around this risky industry. Samarco’s goal is to increase its production capacity to 60% next year and reach 100% by 2028.
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Source: CNN Brasil
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