Standard & Poor’s cut Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA’s debt rating further into speculative territory on Monday as the deadly dam disaster compromises the finances of the joint venture owned by BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) and Vale SA (VALE5.SA).
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Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster ever occurred on November 5 when a Samarco iron mine dam collapsed, releasing sixty million cubic meters of toxic waste.
BHP reiterated on Thursday the tailings that entered the Rio Doce were made up of clay and silt from processing earth containing iron ore and were “chemically stable”.
“In fact there was lead, arsenic – not mercury – detected in some points along the river”, Ms. Somavilla said. At the news conference, the Brazilian metals and mining company denied that additional toxic elements flooded into the river, the Journal reported.
Environment minister Izabella Teixeira said a lawsuit would be filed demanding that the companies and the mine operator Samarco, which they co-own, create a fund of 20 billion reais to pay for environmental recovery and compensation for victims.
The collapse of a wastewater dam at the Samarco iron ore mine triggered a flood of muddy water that has killed at least 13 people. BHP said it noted public commentary on the composition of the tailings, without mentioning the United Nations, according to the e-mailed remarks. This is the first time it has admitted storing waste materials in the dam. He also added that Samarco and its owners should take all the responsibility for the maintenance and indemnification.
“The scale of the environmental damage is the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic mud waste contaminating the soil, rivers and water system of an area covering over 850 kilometers”, John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said in a statement. The response to the spill will test Andrew Mackenzie and Murilo Ferreira, the CEOs of BHP and Vale, who toured the site and said they were overcome by the devastation. But Vania Somavilla, Vale’s executive director of human relations, health and safety, sustainability and energy, said the mud may have upset toxic elements settled in the bed of the Rio Doce or along its banks.
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The UN human rights agency also said that BHP and Vale had not taken steps to prevent the harm caused by the mine waste.
