What caused the fundao dam failure?
The panel’s investigation ultimately concluded that the dam failed because a lateral extrusion mechanism triggered liquefaction within loose, saturated sands located at the left abutment.
What happened Samarco?
When the Fundão tailings dam at the Samarco mine collapsed at around 15:30 on 5 November 2015, millions of cubic meters of mine waste spilled out. The ensuing toxic mudflow killed 20 people. The villages of Bento Rodrigues, Paracatu de Baixo and Gesteira were destroyed. Over 600km of the river basin was polluted.
When was the Mariana dam built?
Built in 1976 by Ferteco Mineração, the dam used the upstream method, which, although common, is the least safe, according to experts. This method was the same in the Fundão dam in Mariana.
How many people died in Mariana dam disaster?
19
Mariana dam disaster/Number of deaths
In November 2015, a mining dam operated by Vale’s subsidiary, Samarco, collapsed in the town of Mariana, just 120km (74 miles) away in the same state of Minas Gerais, killing 19 people and devastating two nearby villages.
What are tailing piles?
Tailings are a type of rock waste from the mining industry. When a mineral product is mined, the valuable portion is usually embedded in a rock matrix called ore. Once the ore has been stripped of its valuable minerals, sometimes through the addition of chemicals, it is piled up into tailings.
Where was the Mariana dam disaster?
Mariana
Mariana dam disaster/Location
Has any dam broke?
Dam failures are comparatively rare, but can cause immense damage and loss of life when they occur. In 1975 the failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam and other dams in Henan Province, China caused more casualties than any other dam failure in history.
Are tailings and gangue the same thing?
As nouns the difference between gangue and tailings is that gangue is (mining) the earthy waste substances occurring in metallic ore while tailings is the waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; gangue, slimes.
What is a mine tailings dam?
A tailings dam is typically an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue. Tailings dams are designed for permanent containment, meaning they are intended to “remain there forever”.
What happens if Hoover dam breaks?
Damage to the Dam If catastrophe struck the Hoover Dam and it somehow broke, a catastrophic amount of water from Lake Mead would be released. That water would likely cover an area of 10 million acres (4 million hectares) 1 foot (30 centimeters) deep. Approximately 25 million people depend on water from Lake Mead.
When did the fundao dam in Brazil collapse?
Previously unreported internal documents from the joint venture Samarco show that six months before the collapse, the company carried out a worst-case assessment of the dam, near Mariana in Minas Gerais state. The Fundão dam had a catastrophic failure in 2015, causing flooding and at least 17 deaths.
Why was the fundao tailings dam a problem?
Prosecutors say that the Fundão tailings dam, one of several huge earthworks built to store iron ore mining waste, had always been problematic. “The dam had been giving problems year after year,” claimed Sampaio, the prosecutor.
Where was the Germano mine in fundao located?
The Fundão dam was one of the megastructures of the Germano mining complex, located in the municipality of Mariana, Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. The mining complex had an installed capacity of 23 million tons/year of iron ore concentrate.
How tall is the Germano dam in Brazil?
In addition to Fundão, the complex contained two more dams: Santarém and Germano, the latter being the highest dam in Brazil, with a height of 175 m and a projected volume of up to 160 million m 3 of tailings ( Samarco, 2013 ). Open pit mines, piles of sterile material deposits, industrial plants and pipelines are also part of the Germano Complex.