Responding to a request from the Canadian Embassy in Brazil, CDA arranged to have Andy Small, former chair of the CDA Mining Dams Committee, represent CDA in two presentations in Brazil in March 2016.  Following the failure of a tailings dam at the Samarco mine on Nov. 5, 2015 that cost 17 lives, a committee of the Brazilian Senate is investigating the country’s dam safety policy and regulations. 

 

On March 15, Mr. Small was one of four presenters to the Senate Committee Hearing on Dam Safety. Three Senators and 20 others attended. Mr. Small shared some Canadian initiatives on dam safety and offered recommendations. Brazil’s legal system and enforcement is different than Canada’s.