Media Contact:
Alan Septoff, aseptoff@earthworks.org, 202.887.1872×105
Statement of Earthworks’ Mining Director Payal Sampat
“Vale’s Brumadinho mining waste dam failure is all the more tragic because the mining industry knows how to prevent them, yet failed to act.
“200 people are missing and some presumed dead because Vale and the rest of global mining industry haven’t adopted the Mount Polley Independent Expert Panel’s recommendations made in response to a similar catastrophic mining waste dam failure in 2014. These recommendations have been globally recognized, including by the United Nations Environment Programme’s 2017 assessment of tailings dams failures, and by the multi-sector Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance standard. Until these recommendations are adopted and independently verified, preventable mining disasters will continue to occur wherever the mining industry operates.
“Independent research that analyzes mine waste dam failures since the turn of the 20th century reveals that these catastrophic failures are occurring more frequently. It also projects the trend will continue, driven by economic factors.
“After the 2015 Samarco mining waste dam disaster, the International Council on Mining Metals published mining waste impoundment guidance that ignored the globally recognized recommendations by the Mount Polley Panel.” — Earthworks Mining Director Payal Sampat
For More Information
- Mount Polley Independent Expert Panel’s recommendations
- United Nations Environment Programme’s 2017 assessment of tailings dams failures
- Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance’s Standard
- World Mine Tailings Dam Failures
- ICMM mine waste impoundment guidance
- Earthworks: Two Years Later, A Look at Mount Polley (from 2016)
