Toxic elements found in water weeks after Brazil’s mine disaster — Vale

The spill has been called the biggest mining disaster in Brazil’s history, with about 20 people either confirmed dead or still missing after the dam burst sent a wave a mud cascading into a village. (Image: Screenshot of Marcelo Silva’s video via YouTube)

Toxic materials, such as arsenic, were found in the water of the Rio Doce river days after a dam burst at a mine in Brazil earlier this month, Vania Somavilla, sustainability chief at Vale (NYSE:VALE), said Friday.

Speaking at a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Somavilla confirmed that the Institute for Water Management in Minas Gerais (IGAM) had found levels of arsenic above legal limits, local mining news outlet EM reports (in Portuguese).

IGAM found levels of arsenic, lead, aluminum, chromium, nickel and cadmium many times higher than the legal maximums at various points along the river. The tests were taken between Nov. 7 and Nov. 12, as the mud from Samarco’s dam crawled downstream.

The admission comes two days after a United Nations report alleging “high levels of toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals” in the river and criticizing both the companies and the government for their “defensive” response to the accident.

But just as its joint-venture partner BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP), which yesterday released a statement reiterating that the tailings that spilled on the Rio Doce River contained not hazardous to human health, Vale stressed that the vast amount mud unleashed on Nov.5 only contained water, mud, iron-oxide and sand, none of which are harmful.

More to come…

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