ANM increases mining dam taxes

The National Mining Agency (ANM) increased the number of civil servants involved in the inspection of mining dams in the country. According to a note released today (7) by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the measure complies, with more than a year of delay, an agreement sealed with the Union. The negotiations took place within a public civil action filed in April 2019, just over two months after the collapse of the dam belonging to the mining company Vale in Brumadinho (MG). It is one of the biggest environmental and labor tragedies in the country, which culminated in the death of 270 people and caused impacts in several municipalities of the Paraopeba River basin. The agreement resulted in the appointment of 40 mining specialists, 17 of which for Minas Gerais, the state that has the largest number of dams. The ordinances were published last Friday (3). According to the schedule that was agreed in October 2019, the civil servants should have been appointed in 2021. In the action, the MPF asked the Justice to oblige the Union to inspect, through the ANM, all dams in the country considered unsafe or safe inconclusive. However, it was found that the staff deficit and the structural scrapping imposed on the agency impacted its functioning and its inspection capacity. In the Regional Management of Minas Gerais, there were only four servants in the Dam Safety Division, and only two had specialization in dam engineering. Faced with this situation, an agreement was signed with the Federal Government which, in addition to staffing, allocated R$ 42.7 million for inspection.

Agência Brasil