Vale executives and members of the government听of Minas Gerais, Brazil, signed on Thursday a R$ 37.6 billion ($7bn) deal for the reparation of the socio-economic and environmental damage caused by the Brumadinho dam collapse in 2019.
In November, the head of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais听rejected听the miner鈥檚 proposed settlement of around 21 billion reais ($3.97 billion).
Minas Gerais requested 54.6 billion reals ($10.3 billion) in compensation, a figure that included relocation and the psychological damage suffered by survivors and the victims鈥� families.
About 30% of the $7 billion will be invested in the city of Brumadinho
Vale argued that it had already paid about 8,700 individual claims and has allocated about R$ 10 billion ($1.83 billion) to repair the damages.
According to the government of Minas Gerais, the settlement is the biggest in Brazil鈥檚 history, but does not include criminal actions, unknown damages, and individual rights.
The Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB), which represents the victims, said that it 鈥渄isagrees with the way in which negotiations for the global agreement have been carried out, without the participation of those affected.鈥�
鈥淰ale has already paid compensation directly to the victims鈥� families. The settlement is for economic damages caused to the state, and the government of Minas Gerais relies heavily on this money to pay back salaries of state employees, to finance the reelection of the current governor of Minas Gerais Romeu Zema in 2022,鈥� Murilo Rocha, author of the book Brumadinho 鈥撎�The Engineering Of A Crime (Brumadinho 鈥� A Engenharia de um Crime), told 九游下载apk.
鈥淭he government of Minas Gerais plans to build roads, hospitals, schools with this money, which will not benefit directly the community of Brumadinho,鈥� Rocha said.
According to Zema, about 30% of the $7 billion will be invested in the city of Brumadinho.
The government expects to create 360,000 new jobs in Minas Gerais after the investment.
Investigation
Federal Police in Minas Gerais, Brazil, expect to receive the forensic report by the end of March on the cause of the tailings liquefaction that led to the听dam collapse.
In September 2019, Brazilian police indicted Vale, the testing service T脺V S脺D and 13 employees of the two companies for producing misleading documents about the safety of the dam. Each of these crimes can yield from 3 years to 6 years, and can reach a total of 18 years in prison.
In January 2020, Vale SA鈥檚 former chief executive officer Fabio Schvartsman was听charged with homicide听after an investigation conducted by the Minas Gerais police, but the federal investigation is still ongoing and Vale鈥檚 lawyers can challenge the charge based on the results of the federal investigation results. Other former employees were also accused of homicide.
Still missing
The Fire Brigade of Minas Gerais听resumed the search听in August 2020听for still missing bodies of 11 victims of the dam collapse. Work had been halted in March due to pandemic protocols. The operation includes 60 military personnel.
鈥淚t is a very complex operation, but we will remain in Brumadinho until we are no longer able to find these victims,鈥� 鈥嬧�婰ieutenant Pedro Aihara told 九游下载apk. 鈥淭his is very important, especially for family members.鈥�
Despite the Brumadinho disaster and the听Fund茫o dam tragedy in 2015, Vale has not complied with a number听of听commitments signed with authorities to prevent a new disaster, federal prosecutor Edison Vitorelli told听Reuters.
Twenty-nine dams that Vale uses to store mining waste still present听elevated safety risks, according to Vitorelli.
鈥淏rumadinho revealed that several other dams were unsafe,鈥� says Murilo Rocha. 鈥淪ome small towns have been evacuated, nobody believes that a new disaster can鈥檛 happen again, it was clear that the inspection was flawed.鈥�