Vale informs on slope of the Gongo Soco mine

Vale informs that its teams continue to monitor and report to authorities the movements in the primary and secondary portions of the northern slope of the Gongo Soco mine pit, in Barão de Cocais (MG), paralyzed since 2016. The northern slope continues to slide into the structure, a process that has been taking place gradually since last year, as reported to the market on May 16th, 2019.

Vale continues to evaluate the likelihood and the extent of impacts in the event of new detachments, as well as impacts of any vibration on the Sul Superior dam, located approximately 1.5 km from the slope area. The pit and the dam are remotely monitored 24 hours a day, using radar and a robotic station capable of detecting millimetric movements, as well as by drone surveillance and by the Geotechnical Monitoring Centre.​

The Sul Superior dam has been at emergency level 3 since March 22nd, 2019, while the Self-Rescue Zone (ZAS) had already been preventively evacuated on February 8th, 2019. Since then, preventive measures have been taken, including emergency drills with residents of the Secondary Safety Zone (ZSS).​

Vale has completed the construction of the tailings containment structure located 6 km from the Sul Superior dam; the containment effectiveness is still pending verification by authorities. The structure project followed international technical criteria and aims to retain 100% of the volumes contained by the Sul Superior and Sul Inferior dams in an extreme hypothetical scenario of rupture, preventing the tailings from reaching the Secondary Safety Zone of the municipalities of Barão de Cocais, Santa Bárbara and São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo (MG).​​