Reviving Brazil’s Paraopeba River with Watermaster

In January 2019, a tailings dam collapsed in Brumadinho (a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais), releasing a large volume of mining residues into the Paraopeba River. As part of the mining company’s recovery program, Construtora Vale Verde is now removing tailings from a 6 km stretch of the river.

“The toughest areas are where the water is very shallow, the banks unstable and road access is limited. To reach them without building new roads or other temporary works, the team uses an amphibious Watermaster Classic V – the first in Brazil,” Watermaster/Aquamec said.

“It reaches and works in the most challenging sections of the river where the rest of the fleet cannot. The goal is to remove the tailings safely so the Paraopeba and the communities along it can recover.”

Watermaster’s first task is to open the shallow stretches of river sediment that block access to the tailings.

With its bucket, it clears these bars and creates the draft needed for the CSD and the excavators on barges to work. It also helps maintain the CSD’s discharge pipeline.

If large rocks are in the way, Watermaster breaks them with its hydraulic hammer to keep the way open for the larger units, the company said.

The CSD removes tailings by suction dredging the slurry through a pipeline to a dewatering area on land. On this stretch the pumping distance is about 3 km with 25 meters of lift using a booster.

Day by day, the Paraopeba River becomes clearer, safer and healthier as it returns toward its natural state, Watermaster/Aquamec concluded.