“Dam that Broke in Mariana Contained Waste Material Belonging to Vale”, 25 November 2015

The dam that broke in Mariana…causing an unprecedented environmental disaster affecting as far away as the Espírito Santo coastline, also contained mining rejects belonging to Vale…One of Samarco's shareholders (on the side of…BHP Billiton) responsible for the dam, Vale used the area to store waste from iron ore production. Vale confirmed that it had a contract with Samarco, permitting it to use the dam for its waste materials, but said that its waste amounted to less than 5% of the total…[U]ntil now Vale has accepted no share of responsibility for the disaster. This is the first time it has admitted storing waste materials in the dam…Vale confirmed…on…[23 November]…that it used the Fundão dam to deposit iron ore waste from the treatment plants at the Alegria mine, in Mariana. It said that it sent to the Fundão dam "less than 5% of the total waste" deposited there. "The relationship was governed by a contract between the companies, which designated Samarco as responsible for the management, control and operation of the dam," it added…