Within this complex, the Fundão dam failed, affecting the downstream Santarém dam.
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While officials confirmed only one death since the accident on Thursday, TV Globo reported two bodies were found on a riverbank several kilometers away from the mine.
“The death toll will rise for sure”, said Duarte Júnior, mayor of Mariana.
“It’s probably the last thing the company needs, given it’s struggling to generate earnings, it’s on track to pay dividends out of debt, and then they’ve got this liability”, said Ric Ronge, a portfolio manager at Pengana Capital.
Brazilian searchers are looking for 23 people still listed as missing following the burst of two dams at an iron ore mine in a southeastern mountainous area. It has also sparked calls by government officials, environmentalists and outraged residents for Brazil to rethink regulation of the mining industry, one of the country’s biggest and a leading source of export revenue.
Neither authorities nor mine operator Samarco – a joint venture between the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton Ltd, and the biggest iron ore miner Vale SA – have determined a cause for the rupture. Clean-up and repairs along miles of flooded river could cost the companies a fortune.
Sandra Maria adjusts her daughter’s hair band at a hotel housing people displaced from a dam failure, in Mariana, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Monday, November 9, 2015.
BHP Billiton’s CEO Andrew Mackenzie has announced plans to travel to the affected area.
“Meanwhile, BHP Billiton has offered its full support to help the immediate rescue efforts and to assist with the investigation”.
The two most devastated villages in the Mariana municipality are Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo, where few buildings were left standing after the mudslide struck.
“He came in shouting that we had to run”, Almeida told Reuters.
Quintão said dry processing should replace wet processing of ores that requires tailings ponds for the mineral waste and water used in the process. “It moved so fast”. But the waters rose more than 30 feet, he said, sweeping into his home at 3 a.m. – almost half a day after the dam broke. “We were told it wouldn’t be so bad”.
Civil-defense officials said authorities would test the toxicity of the rivers.
Samarco said the dams at its operation – four in total – had been assessed in July this year by the regional environmental office and were deemed safe.
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“Samarco Mineracao is a limited liability company…with a management team that is completely independent from its shareholders and responsible for technical and financial matters”, said a Vale spokeswoman in an emailed response to Wall Street Journal questions.
