Brazil's slow-motion environmental catastrophe unfolds

   


 

"The mine and dams are operated by Samarco Mineração SA, a joint venture between the Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, and the Brazilian iron ore giant Vale. Shares in BHP Billiton, a FTSE-100 company and therefore a key holding of pension funds around the world – have been battered. Some £8bn has been wiped off the value of the company as its shares in the UK and Australia have slumped by an average of 14%.

For the company – which operates around the world extracting and marketing a range of products from oil, gas, coal and iron ore to copper, silver and uranium – the dam burst comes as mining firms are under pressure.

“Vale and BHP were totally careless in preventing this,” she said. “They did not show a plan of action in case of disaster. They had no alarm system in place.”

At present congress is debating a law that would diminish environmental regulation for “strategic infrastructure projects in the national interest”, including mining."

read the report by Bruce Douglas >>

Brazil's slow-motion environmental catastrophe unfolds | World news | The Guardian