Competence of Testing Laboratories and Calibration Laboratories

On February 4, 2021, Vale, the state and Federal public prosecutors’ offices and the Public Defenders’ Office of Minas Gerais entered into a formal Comprehensive Reparation Agreement with the government of Minas Gerais. The agreement establishes Vale’s performance and payment obligations as part of the social, economic and environmental reparation programs in affected communities, with a total estimated allocation of R$ 37.7 billion.  

This includes R$ 5 billion earmarked for environmental recovery initiatives in the Paraopeba River basin, the plan for which is currently under discussion and validation by the relevant authorities, with independent audit oversight. The earmarked amount is for known damages and has no cap, potentially expanding to cover any damages emerging in the future—or those currently unknown and subsequently demonstrated to be linked to the dam collapse. Data from water and sediment quality monitoring in the Paraopeba River indicate that water quality has, in general, approximated the conditions observed before the collapse. These data are consistent with monitoring data from the Minas Gerais Institute for Water Management (IGAM) (read more in the December/22 Reparation Report and in the State Environmental Foundation’s reports on water quality in the Paraopeba River (see here).