Mud sea in lower part of Vale in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais. Photo: Cadu Rolim/Fotoarena/PA Images. All rights reserved.
At the small city of Brumadinho in southwest Brazil, a
dam owned by the country’s biggest mining company, Vale S.A., has collapsed. On 25th
January, it liberated over 12 million cubic meters of rejects, which fell into
the Paraopeba River. The mudslide has swept houses, workers, and animals. So far, 99 people were found dead and still 257 are missing.
“History is repeating itself”, tweeted former environment
ministry Marina Silva.
Three years ago, a barrage controlled by a joint venture
between Vale S.A. and the anglo-australian BHP Billiton crumbled, destroying
the municipality of Mariana.
Considered to be Brazil's worst environmental disaster, the incident at Mariana cost the lives of 19 people. The mire reached rivers and
7 states still feel its impact.
“The Brumadinho disaster has to be investigated as a crime”
Mariana’s victims have been fighting in court for fair compensation.
No individual has been convicted nor has the case’s trial been scheduled.
Nevertheless, Vale S.A. requested in December last year to expand in 88% the
capacity of Córrego do Feijão mine, where the broken dam of Brumadinho is located.
As reported by The Intercept Brasil, the company knew about the risks, but
omitted them. And officials accepted the solicitation, ignoring environment
protection entities.
“The brumadinho disaster has to be investigated as a crime”
said Baskut Tuncak, the UN Special Rapporteur Human Rights & Toxics.
Different countries, similar issues
Yet, problems with Vale S.A.’s are not restricted to the
brazilian territories. The company operates in more than 30 countries. And
there are alleged violations in at least eight of them.
To explore coal in the province of Tete in Mozambique,
Vale S.A. resettled around 1300 families. The corporation promised food,
housing and infrastructure but barely fulliled any of its commitment. According to a report from Human Rights Watch, the households had difficulty to access enough
reliable water or quality agricultural land after their removal.
Last year, Tete residents closed a mine for more than 10
days, after several attempts to negotiate a solution to the high levels of dust
in the air.
The list of accusations includes slave labor in Brazil, water pollution in Argentina and New Caledonia, corruption of Guinean political leaders, and espionage of workers, popular movements and journalists.
In the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Canada, a workers strike lasted over a
year. In order to make a way to Sulawesi nickel mine in Indonesia, Vale S.A.
has expelled the indigenous Karonsi’e people who live there.
Communities from Cajamarca, Peru, denounced the use of
paramilitary militias to threat protesters. There, Vale S.A. has a daughter
company called Miski Mayou, which extracts and exports phosphate.
The list of
accusations includes slave labor in Brazil, water pollution in Argentina and
New Caledonia, corruption of Guinean political leaders, and espionage of
workers, popular movements and journalists.
In 2012, Vale S.A. was elected by Greenpeace as the worst company in the world.
The many conflicts with Vale led protesters to organize the First International
Meeting of the Affected by Vale in 2010 in Rio de Janeiro. The event gathered
160 people from the five continents.
On the day the dam broke in Brumadinho,
the group released a public note. "We sympathize with all those affected
and keep shouting: it was not an accident!"