This is a real emergency situation involving a dam collapse Use the escape route to get to the meeting point then remain there and await further instructions.” residents of four villages Barão de Cocais municipality were awakened by this message blaring over loudspeakers This was just two weeks after the collapse of a dam holding back mining waste That prompted Daniel Neri, a physics professor at the Federal Institute of Minas Gerais, to conduct a study, which later culminated in a thesis on what’s now known as “dam terrorism.” “It’s a strategy of dispossession,” Neri says He points out that shortly after the collapse of the tailings dam at the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine in Brumadinho companies that provided services to the iron ore industry in Minas Gerais suddenly declared that the safety certifications for some dams This was despite the fact that most of these dams weren’t even due for their routine assessments by Brazil’s national mining regulator DCEs guaranteed that the dams were safe,” Neri says and the dams began to be considered unsafe mining companies could use this supposed lack of safety to terrorize residents — with the aggravating factor that it was not even the time established by the ANM for this type of certification This was one of the main reasons for people to suspect that the whole thing had been forged.” when Neri learned about this alleged scare tactic by mining companies from a long-running environmental monitoring project by medical researchers at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UMFG) “After UFMG’s Manuelzão Project exposed it we quickly realized that many residents had doubts about the real risks of some dams that had been suddenly ascribed risk classifications and B3/B4 in Nova Lima municipality,” he says Then came a 2020 study by Klemens Laschefski a professor at UFMG’s postgraduate geography department that coined the term “dam terrorism” and showed how it was used to carry out “hidden land grabbing.” “Daniel Neri attended a course in which I presented my work on what I used to call ‘dam terrorism’ in debates with environmentalists,” Laschefski says originated from two workshops he held with people forced to move from their homes due to the alleged risk of dam collapse in Barão de Cocais (later studied in more depth by Neri) and in São Sebastião de Águas Claras municipality Neri’s research is very relevant as it presents many elements and empirical data to support his initial hypothesis consolidating the concept of dam terrorism “Neri’s work provided evidence of a strategy adopted by mining companies to influence not only the population but also government institutions and the courts through fear,” he says “His thesis makes an important contribution to understanding the actions of mining companies in the political arena.” Neri says the main purpose of his research was to demonstrate that some dams had their risk levels artificially inflated in order to force people from certain areas “Other questions emerged throughout the research such as how can companies subvert the licensing and inspection procedures for these structures at so many agencies,” he says citing the Minas Gerais state environmental department “What was this coordinated action that enabled these companies to achieve their corporate goals?” Neri adds the Brazilian mining giant behind the Brumadinho mine and several others across the state used dam terrorism to get people removed from the four villages of Socorro Tabuleiro and Vila do Congo in Barão de Cocais’s São João River Valley This would then allow it to carry out a large-scale mining project in the area: the Apolo project Vale is now trying to get the project licensed for the sixth time Vale began to transfer its mining rights to other companies instead of getting licenses for a large mining project And that is exactly what it is doing now.” Neri says the main evidence for the practice of dam terrorism is the way the removals took place the DCE safety certification for the Sul Superior dam was abruptly declared canceled at a meeting on Feb 2019 — 13 days after the Brumadinho disaster the prosecutors’ office and the Barão de Cocais municipal government decided that people would be removed amid the sounds of sirens and loudspeakers blaring “Attention this is a real dam collapse situation.” “Every day for two weeks people had been watching the removal of hundreds of bodies from Brumadinho on TV,” he says even though the evacuation had been decided in the afternoon It’s clear that they used the terror of the tragedy in Brumadinho to make people leave everything behind.” Leaving everything behind is what engineering geologist Ana Carla de Carvalho Cota had to do on Jan She lived in what she calls the death zone of Vale’s Doutor dam in Mariana municipality Minas Gerais — formally known as the self-rescue zone such because the risk is considered so high that rescuers won’t venture there in the event of a disaster and the company announced that it would remove everyone who lived within the [zone] as a precaution,” Cota says the sludge would reach my house in six seconds.” together with all of their neighbors — around 600 people for two years and nine months and counting — the family has been living in a room at the Providência Hotel in Mariana without proper conditions for a family and the healthy development of my children,” Cota says “It’s not a home; it doesn’t provide the basic conditions for the healthy development of two children.” living in the hotel is like being a prisoner on work release but I must be back at the hotel to sleep at night,” she says “My life is controlled by Vale; our daily meals are at the hotel; we’ve lost autonomy in our lives “Living there until the removal caused irreversible damage to my health,” Cota says I was diagnosed with panic syndrome at the time Every time it rained and I was at home in the zone I also developed atopic dermatitis due to prolonged stress In response to Mongabay’s request for comment Vale issued a statement from its press office in Portuguese Vale states that any attempt to suggest that the company uses schemes to obtain any type of benefit is unfounded and it is committed to ethics and strict compliance with the law Decommissioning upstream dam structures in Brazil is a commitment made by Vale and has also become a legal obligation 14 of the 30 structures included in the Decommissioning Program have been eliminated All of Vale’s upstream dams in Brazil are non-operational and are permanently monitored The actions implemented in these structures are subject to evaluation and monitoring by independent technical teams which are part of the Commitment Term signed The Barão de Cocais communities located in the Self-Rescue Zone (ZAS) for the Sul Superior dam were preemptively evacuated after the structure’s risk level was raised in order to guarantee the population’s safety The structure is in the process of decommissioning The families evacuated have signed compensation agreements with Vale or are living in homes of their own choice Vale clarifies that it is not in the municipality of Barão de Cocais The project is located between the municipalities of Caeté and Santa Bárbara It has been remodeled since its first version in 2009 and its development over the last decade was based on active listening to communities and environmental organizations and agencies This new project is also the result of advances in engineering solutions and reflects Vale’s new way of operating The New Apolo will not generate tailings and will not include dams or other tailing disposal structures with more efficient use of mineral resources and without including water in the production process The Apolo project is not located in the area of Serra do Gandarela National Park and therefore will not interfere with the boundaries or the Park’s waterfalls the project will not affect water provision in the area since it is located beyond the water collection point for the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area replacement will be carried out as required by law It should be noted that the flow will be replaced with the same water from the aquifer without changing the volume or quality of the water This story was first published here in Portuguese on Oct Neri, D. (2023). Terrorismo de barragens: Estratégias de despossessão produzidas pela mineração de ferro em Minas Gerais (Doctoral dissertation, State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil). Retrieved from https://www.repositorio.unicamp.br/acervo/detalhe/1373977 Laschefski, K. A. (2020). Rompimento de barragens em Mariana e Brumadinho (MG): Desastres como meio de acumulação por despossessão. AMBIENTES: Revista de Geografia e Ecologia Política, 2(1), 98. doi:10.48075/amb.v2i1.23299 The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information Crushed iron ore is transported in railroad cars at Vale's Brucutu mine in Barao de Cocais The Brazilian mining giant reportedBloomberg Terminal adjusted earnings before items of $3.7 billion for the third quarter, down 47% from a year ago and well below the $4.6 billion average analyst estimate. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world 2022 at 11:02 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.Vale SA 2 iron ore producer and one of the biggest nickel suppliers has created a corporate venture capital arm to back startups focused on developing game-changing innovations for mining and metals challenges Vale Ventures is starting with a $100 million budget to invest in firms involved in sustainable mining initiatives The unit seeks to provide initial funding and early-stage investments in startups worldwide with a goal of holding 3% to 5% stakes in the firms Dump trucks transport carry mined iron ore at Vale SA's Brucutu mine in Barao de Cocais Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg ArcelorMittal is expected to report bumper profits when it publishes full-year results Thursday but investors will be looking at how confident steelmakers seem about passing through ‎rising raw-material prices said Colin Hamilton at BMO Capital Markets.