Samarco comprises a mine and three concentrators located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and four pellet plants and a port located in Anchieta in the state of Espírito Santo.
Samarco’s operations were suspended in November 2015 after the Fundão dam failure. Since its restart in December 2020, 80 per cent of the tailings generated are filtrated and dry stacked, and 20 per cent are deposited in a confined pit enabling Samarco to operate without a conventional tailings dam structure.
Samarco has been progressively decommissioning its upstream tailings dam structures in accordance with Brazilian legislation. During FY2023, decommissioning works for the smaller of the two tailings dams, the Germano Pit dam, were completed. The progressive decommissioning of the remaining upstream tailings dam structure, the Germano Main dam, is planned for completion by FY2029. |