blog #17
'The river is dying': the vast ecological cost of Brazil's mining disasters
by Jonathan Watts
January 29th, 2019
Following a recent mining disaster, which resulted in the contamination of the river systems of two communities in Brazil by iron tailings and mud, the Brazilian government is being pushed to change their environmental policies, and more harshly punish the companies that breech them. 60 were killed in the slide, and many are still missing. While the slurry released was minimal to previous catastrophes, the disaster is profoundly impacting the immediate nearby regions regardless. More dangerous however, is this events' amplification of previous disasters. Heavy metals that had settled to the bottom of the river were stirred to the surface again, threatening the existence of many rare species of fish. While a mining process exists that is safe to tailings dams, known as dry stacking mining waste, it is significantly more expensive in the short term. Despite being more cost-effective in the long term, few miners choose it for its initial cost.
NOTE: [i was not able to upload any images]
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