BRASILIA, March 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Brazilian mining giant Vale on Saturday
accepted the temporary resignation of its president Fabio Schvartsman and
three executives, weeks after a mine dam owned by the firm collapsed in the
southeastern town of Brumadinho, killing 186 and leaving 122 missing.
According to a statement, Schvartsman and the other executives submitted
the requests for “temporary removal from office” — which were accepted
immediately — after prosecutors recommended their dismissal on Friday.
In a letter addressed to the firm’s board of directors, which was leaked
to some Brazilian media, Schvartsman made the request “for the benefit of the
continuity of the company’s operation and support for victims and their
families.”
He defended his management in the wake of the disaster — but added his
presence at the helm of the firm, which is under investigation over the
tragedy, had come to be “seen as an inconvenience.”
Vale, meanwhile, said in its statement that it had appointed executive
director of base metals Eduardo de Salles Bartolomeo as interim CEO. However,
it did not immediately confirm how long that interim period would be, or the
company’s long term plan.
Vale, the world’s biggest producer of iron ore, owned the dam that
collapsed on January 25, washing over the iron ore mine. Most of those buried
under its thick mud were mine workers, though some nearby residents were also
engulfed.
So far neither the company — which has been fined millions and had its
assets frozen to pay for future compensation — nor the authorities have
offered any explanation of what caused the disaster.
The disaster was the second involving Vale in three years in the same
region of Brazil, after a 2015 collapse of another tailings dam at a jointly
owned mine that caused what is considered the country’s worst-ever
environmental catastrophe.