Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident
The Fundão dam, one of the tailings dams at Germano mine, broke on the afternoon of 5 November 2015. The breach discharged 33 million m 3 of iron ore tailings slurry. Germano mine storage facility failure
Initially it was believed that the Santarém dam had also broken, but later it was verified that the mud from the Fundão dam had covered it, causing it to overflow as well.
The mud devastated the sub-district of Bento Rodrigues , pulling vehicles downstream and destroying hundreds of houses, following the Gualaxo and Doce rivers affecting the municipalities of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
Santarém dam
Town of Bento Rodrigues
Gualaxo do Norte River
Fundão dam
N 500 m
L ÓPEZ , 2017
Affected area Affected waterways
Governador Valadares
Main towns
Tumiritinga
Inhabitants
Conselheiro Pena
300 000 150 000
Belo Oriente
Resplendor
25 000 5 000
Ipatinga
Colatina
Aimorés
Linhares
Baixo Guandu
M INAS G ERAIS
The tailing slurry travelled 650 km downriver, with 4 dams along the way. As no immediate response was taken, the tailing ended up in the ocean.
L ÓPEZ , 2017 20 km
Barra Longa
Mariana
E SPIRITO S ANTO
Figure 4. Location and impacts of the tailings storage-facility failure at the Samarco mine in Brazil, November 2015
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