Even if there is no breach due to the slope slide, the Sul Superior dam remains classified at Level 3. Then, Vale and relevant authorities provided trainings to prepare the communities for all possible scenarios. Barros added: "all residents of the Self-Rescue Zones (ZAS, Zona de Autossalvamento), as well as more than three thousand animals and pieces of religious art, were transferred to areas outside the ZAS."
To ensure the safety of everyone, residents and workers, works in the extraction site are suspended, to avoid people working at the site. However, impoundment works are in progress. The major works is the construction of a basin to help impound part of the ore tailings, in the case of a dam breach. In addition, screens and granite blocks are being installed to slow the tailings flow.
Both the slope and dam are under 24 hour monitoring, and the forecasts are daily reviewed. "We are very sorry for the impact we are causing on the population and city of Barão de Cocais," concludes the COO. "But Vale spares no effort to ensure safety of the community."
