“The dam failure is a major concern and could have a material impact on the near-term production outlook for Samarco”, it said in a client note.
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The village of Bento Rodrigues near the dam is practically buried, the fire chief said. Samarco produces 30 million tonnes per year of pellet, used to make steel. The number is likely to rise as rescue efforts continue.
The news website G1, citing an anonymous source in a local mining union, reported that 10 people were killed.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff offered the governor of Minas Gerais assistance from the army and the national civil defense corps. “We don’t even know that we’ll find everybody”, said firefighter Adão Severino Junior in the nearby city of Mariana. “We’re pleading to God that people managed to get out of the worst-affected places in time”.
Swathes of home have been destroyed and a neighbourhood flooded in thick sludge of mining waste.
“We have engaged tens of thousands of our people across the company in discussions to upgrade their health and safety leadership, to make their workplaces healthier and safer, free from fatalities, serious injuries and long term health effects”, he said.
Fire services told Mashable that those being rescued from the site – and emergency services – were having to be decontaminated as the mining spoils were being treated as toxic.
Samarco Mineracao, a joint venture between BHP Billiton and Vale, said teams were working to help the injured and limit environmental damage in the traditional mining town of Mariana in the state of Minas Gerais.
“At the moment we can not confirm the causes and the full extent of what happened, and the number of victims”. The center said it recorded tremors magnitude 2 to 2.6 within an hour before the dams burst, but added it was impossible to say they caused the disaster without more extensive research.
Samarco said it will investigate the incident.
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The mudslide erupted Thursday from a reservoir of waste at the partly Australian-owned iron ore and minerals mine in southeastern Brazil, ripping the roofs off houses and leaving villagers clinging to their roofs.
