Fundão tailings dam failures: the environment tragedy of the largest technological disaster of Brazilian mining in global context

• Published in: Perspectives in ecology and conservation Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 145 - 151
• Main Authors: Carmo, Flávio Fonseca do, Kamino, Luciana Hiromi Yoshino, Junior, Rogério Tobias, Campos, Iara Christina de, Carmo, Felipe Fonseca do, Silvino, Guilherme, Castro, Kenedy Junio da Silva Xavier de, Mauro, Mateus Leite, Rodrigues, Nelson Uchoa Alonso, Miranda, Marcos Paulo de Souza, Pinto, Carlos Eduardo Ferreira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Editora Ltda 01.07.2017; Elsevier
• Subjects: Doce River; Ecosystem collapse; Iron ore; Large-Scale Mining Industry; Post-disaster management; Post-disaster management; Doce River; Large-Scale Mining Industry; Iron ore; Ecosystem collapse
• ISSN: 2530-0644; 2530-0644
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pecon.2017.06.002

[Display omitted] •The collapse of the Fundão dam was the major environmental disaster of the world mining industry.•We identify with high resolution satellite images the ecosystems and cultural heritage damage.•Contrary to post-disaster expectations, there was a setback in environmental legal planning. After the collapse of the Fundão dam, 43millionm3 of iron ore tailings continue to cause environmental damage, polluting 668km of watercourses from the Doce River to the Atlantic Ocean. The objectives of this study are to characterize the Fundão Tailings Dam and structural failures; improve the understanding of the scale of the disaster; and assess the largest technological disaster in the global context of tailings dam failures. The collapse of Fundão was the biggest environmental disaster of the world mining industry, both in terms of the volume of tailings dumped and the magnitude of the damage. More than year after the tragedy, Samarco has still not carried out adequate removal, monitoring or disposal of the tailings, contrary to the premise of the total removal of tailings from affected rivers proposed by the country's regulatory agencies and the worldwide literature on post-disaster management. Contrary to expectations, there was a setback in environmental legal planning, such as law relaxation, decrease of resources for regulatory agencies and the absence of effective measures for environmental recovery. It is urgent to review how large-scale extraction of minerals is carried out, the technical and environmental standards involved, and the oversight and monitoring of the associated structures.