Global miner BHP Group said today that it has set up a tailings taskforce to further improve the focus on internal dam management and boost safety following Vale’s Brumadinho dam disaster in Brazil.
Earlier this year, The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), an industry trade group whose members include Vale, Glencore Plc, BHP and 25 others, said a committee will review and set standards for tailings dam design and maintenance by the end of the year.
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The tailings taskforce has come after the collapse of Vale SA’s Brumadinho dam in Brazil in January that killed over 200 people, raising questions about the safety of tailings dams around the world. The Brumadinho incident followed the 2015 collapse of a tailings dam operated by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and Vale, killing 19 people in what was termed Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.
BHP said it has 67 operated tailings facilities across all of its sites, 12 of which are in Australia.
BHP said also said that a review undertaken to assess the management of tailings facilities following the 2015 Samarco disaster had identified no immediate concerns regarding dam integrity.
Source Original Content Reuters, Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin.
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