28/04/2017
“Not a single day passes without us lamenting the Fundão dam burst, that happened in November 2015. And the learning that we get from this sad event is fundamental for the evolution of the mining industry.” With this statement, the president of Samarco, Roberto Carvalho, opened his presentation at the Mining Tailings Management Seminar: Evolution of Good Practices in Brazil and in the World, held in the auditorium of FIEMG, Belo Horizonte, on the 25th. The event commemorated as well the 40th anniversary of the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM).
The invited speakers, with the participation of environmental companies and institutes from Brazil and Canada, shared experiences about the use of new technologies and the constant concern for dams safety, responsible for storing 94% of the mining tailings.
New learnings
M. Roberto Carvalho showed how much the company has invested in New Technologies of Dams safety, by the means of the Inspection and Monitoring Centre (CMI). The Center operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and features about 480 state-of-the-art equipments such as robotic and meteorological stations, millimeter precision radars, laser scanners, cameras, drones, piezometers and accelerometers. With those equipments, Samarco is able to continuously monitor structures such as the Germano and Nova Santarém dams, the Selinha, Sela and Tulipa dikes, the S3, S4 and the Cava de Alegria Sul. All data collected is monitored by a specialized team of trained engineers and technicians.The results are compiled into reports that are continually forwarded to the competent entities.
