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BHP another burst dam disaster – this time in Brazil

BHP disaster unfolds in Brazilian village 7 Nov 2015 The Weekend Australian Business MATT CHAMBERS

BHP Billiton was last night facing one of the worst disasters in its 130-year history after sludge from two burst mining dams at the Samarco iron ore joint venture in Brazil destroyed much of a nearby town, killing at least two people and leaving scores unaccounted for.

Brazilian newspapers reported local unions as saying there were 15 or 16 people killed and 45 missing after the tailings dam burst at BHP’s 50 per cent-owned Samarco operations in the state of Minas Gerais, burying houses and streets in the town of Bento Rodrigues in muddy waste.

Late last night officials were reportedly confirming two deaths but said the toll could mount.

Yesterday afternoon, BHP managing Andrew Mackenzie could not confirm how many people were killed or injured, or whether employees of Samarco, which BHP owns with Brazilian giant Vale, were missing after the disaster.

“There has been a tragic incident at the Samarco iron ore operation,” Mr Mackenzie said in a hastily arranged media conference in Melbourne………

Local reports said another dam, Santarem, which recently had its crest raised with a rubber structure to increase its capacity, had also burst, while Samarco said “dams” had been breached.

A local official said more than 50 were injured in the disaster and that the death toll could pass 40.

“That is not official,” said local fire chief Adao Severino Junior. “The situation is grim. It is dark. There is a lot of mud.”

He said rescue operations would continue through the night.

Television footage showed a torrent of industrial muck several hundred metres long that swamped houses and ripped off roofs in Minas Gerais, which is in the southeast of the country and host to a large mining industry.

BHP shares slid 58c, or 2.5 per cent, to $22.70 yesterday after news of the disaster, which Morgan Stanley estimated could result in a year of lost iron ore production……

Reuters reported last night that flooding from the mine had reached another village called Paracatu de Baixo and that villagers were being evacuated.

If the number of reported deaths from the disaster are correct, the tragedy will eclipse the Appin coalmine explosion in 1979 in the Illawarra region, in which 14 workers died.

Another great mining disaster in BHP’s history was also caused by a tailings dam failure, but not one that caused any immediate deaths.

At the OK Tedi copper mine in Papua New Guinea, a tailings dam collapse in 1984 started more than 20 years of government approved tailings discharge into local rivers, causing huge environmental damage.

November 7, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general