RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian court has issued an injunction ceasing operations at several tailings dams owned by mining firm Vale, the iron-ore giant said on Monday, which will hit production at a major mine.
The injunction, issued in response to a motion by prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais, requires the firm to paralyse operations at 13 dams. As a result, the company said, production at its major Brucutu mine will take longer than expected to come back on line.
In late January, a tailings dam burst at a Vale-owned mine in Minas Gerais, likely killing over 300 people. Coming just over three years after another deadly burst at a Vale-linked dam in the same state, prosecutors and other authorities have ratcheted up pressure on the firm.
On Thursday, Minas Gerais authorities had given the firm the go-ahead to restart operations at Brucutu, after halting operations there in early February.
The subsequent injunction, which occurred on Friday but became widely known via a Vale securities filing on Monday, will delay the restart of Brucutu, the firm said, without giving a specific timeline.
Brucutu has an installed capacity of 30-million tonnes of iron-ore, or about 8% of the company's annual output. Mining operations at other mines, it said, will be unaffected.