​Vale informs that the National Mining Agency (“ANM” - Agência Nacional de Mineração) determined the evacuation of the downstream area of the Sul Superior tailings dam of the Gongo Soco mine, located in the city of Barão de Cocais, state of Minas Gerais, after being informed by Vale that the company was initiating the level I procedures of the Emergency Action Plan for Mining Dams (“PAEBM” - Plano de Ação de Emergência de Barragens de Mineração). Vale clarifies that the decision was made as a preventive measure after the consulting company Walm denied the Stability Condition Report of the structure.

The action started earlier this morning (February 8th) and will cover about 500 people in the communities of Socorro, Tabuleiro and Piteiras, all located in the city of Barão de Cocais, 100 km from Belo Horizonte.

As a safety measure, Vale is intensifying the inspections of the Sul Superior dam. An equipment that detects millimetric movements in the structure will also be installed. Vale is bringing in international consultants to perform a new assessment of the situation next Sunday (February 10th).

The Sul Superior dam is one of the remaining ten inactive upstream tailings dams of Vale and is part of the decommissioning acceleration plan announced in the Press Release "Vale announces the decommissioning of all its upstream dams" on January 29th, 2019.

The above-mentioned dam used to support the production of the Gongo Soco mine, which had its iron ore production stopped by Vale in April 2016.