Samarco Mineração S.A. is a Brazilian mining company founded in 1977. It is currently a joint-venture between the Brazilian Vale and the Australian BHP, each one holding 50% of the company's stocks.
Structure
Samarco is hosted in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. It has offices and mining facilities in Mariana and Ouro Preto, as well as in cities of Espírito Santo, such as Anchieta, which hosts the Ponta Ubu unity.
Environmental disaster
On 5 November 2015, two dams in Mariana owned by Samarco that contained by-products of iron mining collapsed.[2] The accident caused 19 casualties in the district of Bento Rodrigues and its surroundings. The mix of contaminated water and mud flowed to nearby rivers including the Rio Doce, an important river for the southeast regions of Brazil. The water contamination led to the suspension of water service in several cities that depend on water from the Doce River. This incident is considered to be the biggest environmental accident in the history of Minas Gerais.[3]