Mining Weekly

TWO-FACED IRON-ORE MINING: Brazilian mining company Vale’s Brumadinho tailings dam collapse killed 150 people and left 182 missing; Vale-BHP’s Samarco dam collapse killed 19. What evokes great sadness is Vale’s payment of no less than seven cash dividends to shareholders between October 2015 and September 2018. Vale top brass ignored the imperative that cash for operational safety is a priority that must come before cash for dividends, share buy-backs and executive bonuses. Those who received bonuses should be made to pay every single cent back, attend every funeral resulting from the tailings dam safety breaches and ensure that the families of deceased breadwinners receive compensating income and support ad infinitum. BHP also needs to continue to look at itself critically, as does every single mining company. The storage of mine waste needs to come into the twenty-first century in the interests of safety.