Samarco to restart mining five years after deadly dam burst

Samarco Mineracao, a joint venture between BHP Group and Vale, said it had begun the commissioning process at the Germano Complex in the town of Mariana, starting with the ramp-up of two concentrating plants and a new plant to filter waste from mining activities.

Production operations should begin in earnest in the second half of December at its Ubu Complex, where the company produces iron-ore pellets, it said in a statement.

The company initially expects to operate at 26% of capacity, which is 30.5-million tonnes of iron ore pellets annually, it said in a separate statement given to Reuters.

Samarco has been subject to extensive litigation in the years since the November 2015 disaster. In January 2019, a nearby dam in Brumadinho that was wholly owned by Vale also burst, killing 270.