Dam Performance - ESG
Dam Performance
External Review
Vale requires periodic reviews of the dams' physical and hydraulic safety conditions, carried out by external and independent companies. These reviews comply with Brazilian legal requirements and commitments established with Brazilian authorities, such as the Public Prosecutors’ Office and the National Mining Agency (ANM). The main reviews are:
Independent Audit
Conducted by international companies, these audits meet the demands of the Public Prosecutors, with periodic reporting. More specifically, these companies audit the dam safety reports, reinforcement works, and emergency actions plans, among other important documents and works related to the dam, providing recommendations to Vale and monthly reports to the public authorities. After the completion of the evaluation of the main documents and the confirmation of the dam’s stability over a year, the audit service on the dam is deemed completed. Learn the flowsheet of independent audits:
Additionally to this scope, the Public Prosecutors demanded Vale hires or includes on the independents audits’ original scope, a technical support to the Public Authorities on the analysis and monitor of the upstream dams’ removal (decharacterization) projects and schedules, and environmental impacts diagnosis and mitigation measures.
Engineer of Record
In January 2020, Vale established the role of Engineer of Record (EoR) to strengthen the governance of its Tailings & Dams Management System, as an additional inspection layer. The presence of this professional is a good practice recommended by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Canadian Dam Association (CDA), by the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the Independent Dam Safety Advisory Committee (CIAE-SB), established by the company itself in 2019, which is now the Independent Tailings Review Board (ITRB) in compliance with the Global Standard.
The EoR conducts regular safety inspections twice a year, in March and September, and includes the assessment of the structures’ stability condition, with the issuance of the Stability Condition Declaration (DCE). In addition, the EoR issues monthly technical reports, continuously interpreting the results of inspection and monitoring activities on structures, among other duties. The EoR is external to operations and is integrated with Vale's lines of defense and at the senior management level, in order to act with the authority required for this type of function. In this model of continuous and rigorous monitoring, if a change in the safety condition of any structure is identified, a new Declaration of Stability Condition (DCE) may be issued at any time, throughout the year.
Dam performance
Below is provided a list of summarized EoR assessments of Vale’s dams, dikes, and drained piles, covered by the National Dam Safety Policy, that is, those that present at least one of the following characteristics:
Note: The data is updated every 30 days.
* Updated on 09/04/2023. Information referring to July 31, 2023.
Technical Reports
In compliance with article 14 of Law 23,291/19, which instituted the dam safety policy in the state of Minas Gerais, Vale provides the following information and technical reports with respect to its dams:
Information on third party companies
Water Quality Reports
Air Quality Report