Brazil Bans Upstream Mining Dams After Deadly Vale Disaster

Brazil Bans Upstream Mining Dams After Deadly Vale Disaster
A member of a rescue team walks next to a collapsed tailings dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA, in Brumadinho, Brazil on Feb. 13, 2019.
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RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s government on Feb. 18 banned new upstream mining dams and ordered the decommissioning of all such dams by 2021, targeting the type of structure that burst last month in the town of Brumadinho, killing hundreds of people.

Those dams, which hold mining byproducts, are cheaper to build but present higher security risks because their walls are constructed over a base of muddy mining waste rather than on solid ground.