Vale Acknowledges Toxic Waste in River

Brazilian mining giant Vale said Friday that small amounts of arsenic and other potential poisons have been detected in a river polluted by an iron ore mine accident, but that the mining companies are not to blame.

The Somarco mine’s three tiered tailings dam collapsed on November 5, killing 12 people, destroying a nearby village and leaving over a quarter of a million people without potable drinking water.

The Advocacia-Geral da União (AGU), which is the Brazilian institution responsible for the exercise of public law at the federal level, announced the civil damages lawsuit on 27 November.

“The tailings that entered the Rio Doce were comprised of clay and silt material from the washing and processing of earth containing iron ore, which is naturally abundant in the region”, BHP said in a statement.

“Based on the evidence available, the concentration of sediment suspended in the water in the Rio Doce, as a result of the tailings being released, was high enough to starve the fish of oxygen”, a BHP spokesman said. The company added that the chemical composition in the water will remain the same.

She said about 500km (310 miles) of the Rio Doce – one of Brazil’s most important rivers – would have to be dredged in parts, vegetation replanted and fresh water springs cleared.

Over the course of the month, the toxic waste travelled more than 500 kilometers downstream to reach the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo.

On Wednesday, two United Nations independent experts on the environment and toxic waste called on Brazil’s government, Vale and BHP Billiton to “take immediate action to protect the environment and health of communities at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals”.

The AGU’s announcement on Friday came the same day BHP and Vale said they will work with Samarco to create a voluntary, non-profit fund to support the clean-up at the Rio Doce river system which has been affected by the dam burst.

The UN human rights agency also said that BHP and Vale had not taken steps to prevent the harm caused by the mine waste.

BHP Billiton’s share price, however, fell after JPMorgan cut its rating on the company’s stock to “underweight” from “neutral” and said it was factoring a 50 per cent reduction in its dividend.

Samarco will set aside $260 million to fund emergency measures including prevention, remediation and compensation for the environmental and social effects of the incident, BHP said in a Nberovem 17 statement.