Vale to pay penalty for missing deadline to decommission tailings dams – Reuters

Vale SA will pay 236.7 million reais for failing to decommission its tailings dams in Minas Gerais, Brazil, by the Feb. 25 deadline, Reuters reported on the same day, citing a document containing a draft agreement with state prosecutors.

The penalty will be used to fund projects for environmental preservation and to support the government's efforts related to tailings dam safety, according to the report.

Vale confirmed the signing of the agreement to Reuters and reiterated that it would have the dams removed "in the shortest time possible, having as an absolute priority the safety of people and care for the environment."

The company added that the agreement brings "more legal and technical security to the process of decharacterization of the company's 23 upstream dams in Minas Gerais." Vale expects to eliminate 40% of the dams by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian prosecutor clarified that the agreement is a technical and legal adjustment and does not extend the deadline or grant Vale amnesty, the report said.

Vale's request for a deadline extension to eliminate the 23 upstream tailing dams was denied. Brazilian prosecutors announced the deadline in early 2019, a month after the collapse of a tailings dam at Vale's Feijao iron ore mine, which resulted in 270 casualties.

As of Feb. 25, US$1 was equivalent to 5.16 Brazilian reais.