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Mud from Brazil dam burst is toxic, U.N. says – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Sonali Paul (Reuters U.S. – November 26, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO – Mud from a dam that burst at an iron ore mine in Brazil earlier this month, killing 12 people and polluting an important river, is toxic, the United Nations’ human rights agency said on Wednesday.

The statement contradicts claims by Samarco, the mine operator at the site of the rupture, and Samarco’s co-owner, BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), that the water and mineral waste contained by the dam are not toxic.

Citing “new evidence,” the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement the residue “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals”.

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Brazil dam collapse reignites debate over storing mining waste – by James Regan and Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – November 18, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/TORONTO, Nov 19 A deadly mud slide at an iron ore mine in Brazil has reignited calls for safer ways to dispose of millions of tonnes of ore waste held back by man-made dams.

The disaster at the Samarco iron ore mine is only the latest in a series involving tailings – waste in mining parlance – that have devastated the environment, and in the case of Samarco, killed at least 11 people and left another 12 missing.

Tailings are typically a mud-like material and their storage and handling has become a major safety and environmental issue, since they can be toxic and may need to be kept isolated.

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Mine Disasters Seen Showing Cost of Cheap Waste Solutions – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – November 18, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

As miners globally review the way they store waste in the wake of another horrific dam spill, the solution may be as simple as it is dramatic: spend a lot more.

Images of sludge spewing into towns and rivers could be a thing of the past if mines used different types of storage such as removing water or building on more stable ground. While that can be as much as 10 times costlier for companies already squeezed by slumping prices, the cost is much higher when things go wrong.

The cleanup bill for the Nov. 5 spill at the Samarco iron-ore venture in Brazil, owned by BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA, probably will exceed $1 billion, Deutsche Bank AG said. Then there’s lost output and potential lawsuits.

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Copper price recovery at least three years off, says BHP Billiton – by Amanda Saunders (Australian Financial Review – November 18, 2015)

http://www.afr.com/

BHP Billiton does not expect depressed copper prices to lift for at least the next three years, but is confident in a comeback around 2019, when the market should start to shift into a “total under-supply situation”.

Copper prices have been languishing around six-year lows for much of this year, smashing Glencore’s share price and also putting pressure on copper majors BHP and Rio Tinto. Overnight on Tuesday, the price of copper – which is seen as a proxy for global economic activity – sank to a fresh six-year low of $US4590 a tonne.

Prices for BHP’s four key “pillar” commodities – copper, oil, iron ore and metallurgical coal – have taken a beating in 2015.

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Ex-Rio economist David Humphreys says iron will sink further in 2016 as glut persists – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg/Sydney Morning Herald – November 18, 2015)

http://www.smh.com.au/

Iron ore will extend declines into 2016 as weakening steel output hurts demand while the world’s biggest suppliers raise production further, according to a former chief economist at Rio Tinto, who said China would do well to demolish unneeded mills.

“There’s about 300 million tons of surplus capacity in China – that needs to be not just shut down, it needs to be eradicated, it needs to be bulldozed,” David Humphreys, who held the title at Rio for eight years to 2004, said in a phone interview. Steel “production needs to fall,” said Humphreys, 63, who is now an independent consultant.

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Crisis of the Week: Collapsed Brazil Dam Trouble for BHP, Vale – by Ben Dipietro (Wall Street Journal – November 17, 2015)

http://blogs.wsj.com/

The crisis this week centers on BHP Billiton Ltd.BHP.AU -2.13% and Vale SAVALE5.BR -5.53% and how the companies have responded to a lethal burst at a dam they co-own in Brazil. BHP said the cause of the dam collapse at the iron-ore mine in Minas Gerais state remains unknown and that Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie was headed to Brazil to lead the response effort.

BHP Billiton, which co-owns the Samarco Mineracao SA mine with Vale, said Samarco is “responsible for the entirety” of operations at the mine. Samarco was criticized for how it engaged with the community before the collapse. BHP Billiton has provided a number of updates on its website, but investors still were selling shares in the company.

Vale issued statements as well on its website, pledging support to local authorities and communities affected by the disaster. Samarco has been providing near-daily updates on its website, and the company said it’s been putting up displaced residents and is offering paid leave to employees so it can focus on supporting the rescue operations. The CEOs of BHP and Vale appeared together to discuss the response.

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BHP Billiton says reviewing two other mining ventures after Brazil dam disaster – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – November 16, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – Nov 16 BHP Billiton said on Monday it is reviewing two other mining joint ventures, in Peru and Colombia, following a dam disaster at an iron ore mine in Brazil, which it jointly owns with Vale SA.

BHP told analysts and investors it was examining the structures of its Cerrejón coal joint venture in Colombia and its Antamina copper/zinc JV in Peru after the Brazil disaster.

Two dams collapsed on Nov. 5 in southeast Brazil, killing nine people and coating a two-state area with mud and mine waste. The Brazilian mine is owned and operated by Samarco Mineração SA, a joint venture of Anglo-Australian BHP and Brazil’s Vale.

“We will look into, for our own benefit … the arrangements that we have at Samarco which mirror similar arrangements we have at Antamina and Cerrejón,” BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie told a conference call.

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Brazil mining flood could devastate environment for years – by Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters U.S. – November 15, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

RIO DOCE, BRAZIL – The collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine has cut off drinking water for quarter of a million people and saturated waterways downstream with dense orange sediment that could wreck the ecosystem for years to come.

Nine people were killed, 19 are still listed as missing and 500 people were displaced from their homes when the dams burst at an iron ore mine in southeastern Brazil on Nov. 5.

The sheer volume of water disgorged by the dams and laden with mineral waste across nearly 500 km is staggering: 60 million cubic meters, the equivalent of 25,000 Olympic swimming pools or the volume carried by about 187 oil tankers.

President Dilma Rousseff compared the damage to the 2010 oil spill by BP PLC in the Gulf of Mexico and Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira called it an “environmental catastrophe.”

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Iron Ore Crisis Could Be Followed By A Nickel Crisis For BHP Billiton And Vale – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – November 13, 2015)

http://www.forbes.com/

The last thing two of the world’s biggest mining companies, BHP Billiton and Vale , need today is speculation that after the disaster at their jointly owned Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil they might also have to close big nickel-mining operations to stem a tide of heavy losses.

That, however, is precisely what has been suggested by research analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse who have painted a depressing picture of demand for the metal which is largely used to make stainless steel.

Vale, as well as being the world’s biggest iron ore miner is the world’s biggest nickel producer thanks largely to its 2006 takeover of Canada’s Inco.

BHP Billiton is also a big nickel producer via its Australian business unit, Nickel West. The attraction of nickel to both is that buyers are essentially the same, with companies that buy iron ore also buyers of nickel to make stainless steel.

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Brazil levies initial fines of $66 million against mine for burst dams – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Mogueira (Reuters U.S. – November 12, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

MARIANA, BRAZIL – Brazil’s president slapped preliminary fines of 250 million reais ($66.2 million) against a mine in the country’s southeast where two dams burst, killing nine people and coating a two-state area with mud and mine waste.

The fines, announced after President Dilma Rousseff flew over the affected area, come as federal prosecutors announced plans to work with state prosecutors to investigate possible crimes that could have contributed to the disaster at the mine, jointly owned by two of the world’s biggest mining companies, BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) and Vale SA (VALE5.SA).

Rousseff said the fines, imposed by Brazil’s environmental regulator IBAMA for violations that include river pollution and damages to urban areas where water service has been suspended, could be followed by penalties from other federal or state agencies.

The top government lawyer is working with IBAMA to sue the mine owners for up to $1 billion in environmental damages in civil court, a senior administration official told Reuters.

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Deadly Brazil dam collapse puts spotlight on mining safety – by Gordon Hoekstra (Vancouver Sun – November 12, 2015)

http://www.vancouversun.com/

Similar tailings dam failure took place last year at Mount Polley mine in B.C. Interior

A deadly mine tailings dam collapse in Brazil has reignited concerns about safety in British Columbia where a similar collapse at Mount Polley mine last year caused environmental damage but no fatalities.

The catastrophic collapse of a dam at the Samarco iron ore mine, a joint venture of Vale SA and BHP Billiton, has left eight confirmed dead, another 21 people missing and hundreds of Brazilians displaced.

In the aftermath of the Brazil dam failure last week, both First Nations and environmentalists in B.C. are pointing to research released last summer by U.S.-based conservation groups, including the Center for Science in Public Participation, that predicted there would be more mine dam failures around the world as companies pursue lower-grade ore bodies that require bigger operations to make them economical and produce larger amounts of mine waste.

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Brazil vows to make BHP, Vale pay for deadly mine disaster – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira (Reuters U.S. – November 11, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

MARIANA, BRAZIL – Brazil’s government said on Wednesday it may fine mining giants BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale SA for the “environmental catastrophe” caused by ruptured dams at an iron ore mine jointly owned by the companies in a southeastern state.

The government is increasingly concerned over the rising death toll and contaminated mud flowing through two states as a result of the disaster. It is studying the mine’s permits and will ensure the owners pay for cleanup costs, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said in Brasília, the capital.

“If federal fines are applicable, we will apply them,” Teixeira told reporters. “There will be punishment, and under Brazilian law the environment has to be repaired.”

Her remarks are the strongest yet from the government, which was caught off-guard by a disaster that killed at least eight people and left another 21 missing in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais nearly a week ago.

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Anger at burst dams in Brazil focuses on Vale, mining code – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira (Reuters U.S. – November 10, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

MARIANA, BRAZIL – As despair turns to anger over a deadly dam burst at a Brazilian mine, lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for tougher regulations in a new mining code and iron ore giant Vale SA came under pressure to help mourning families and contain the environmental impact.

In five days of rescue efforts in towns ravaged by the massive mudflow, six bodies have been found and 22 people are still missing, making it one of the worst mining disasters in Brazil’s history.

The tragedy in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais has displaced hundreds of residents, triggered investigations by prosecutors and spurred calls for stricter oversight of the mining industry, a huge provider of jobs and government tax receipts in the mineral-rich state.

The chief sponsor of a new mining code in Congress, Leonardo Quintão, told Reuters on Tuesday that he planned to add measures to tighten regulation of tailings dams like the two that collapsed on Thursday, which hold back waste water from processing iron ore.

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Rush to speed Brazil mine permit may be behind dam disaster – by Anthony Boadle and Alonso Soto (Reuters U.S. – November 9, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

BRASILIA – Mining companies often complain endless red tape makes it hard to do business in Brazil but prosecutors and environmentalists say burst dams at an iron ore mine that triggered massive flooding last week point to gaping lapses in regulation.

The floodwaters and mudflow killed at least two people and another 25 are still listed as missing in a disaster that came two years after a study requested by a prosecutor warned the dams in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais could collapse.

“It was evident this dam was risky,” Carlos Eduardo Pinto, a state prosecutor who probes the mining industry, told Reuters, referring to the first dam that gave way, leading to the rupture of another.

Pinto is investigating whether a tailings pond, a reservoir for water with mine waste held by the dam, was too full.  The dams burst on Thursday at a mine operated by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP Billiton Ltd , the world’s largest mining company, and Vale SA, the biggest iron ore miner.

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BHP says ‘no confirmation’ of cause of dam failure, reviewing ore forecasts – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Dow Jones/The Australian – November 9, 2015)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

BHP Billiton shares have hit a seven-year low in the wake of the deadly collapse of two tailing dams at a mine in Brazil. As more information emerges, analysts are trying to tote up the potential bill for BHP and Vale of Brazil, the mine’s co-owner.

The dam breach was the largest-ever spill of its kind, according to Robert Chambers, president of the non-profit Centre for Science in Public Participation, whose group has tracked these types of failures back to 1915.

The cost to the companies, including for clean-up and rebuilding, could top $US1 billion, said Paul Young, a Sydney-based analyst at Deutsche Bank, who estimated the mine could be closed until about 2019. He described the dam burst as “catastrophic.”

“The uncertainty regarding clean-up and legal costs is likely to be an overhang on” shares, according to Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina, who said the reputations of both BHP and Vale, which have relatively good safety records, would emerge damaged.

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