Commentary

Impact of Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative on the Mining Industry

Natural Resources

Summary

DBRS Limited (DBRS) released a commentary titled “Impact of Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative on the Mining Industry.” The commentary aims to (1) provide DBRS’s views on the mining industry’s response to the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative (the Initiative), which was announced by institutional investors following the January 2019 failure of Vale S.A.’s (Vale; rated BBB (low) with a Stable trend by DBRS) Córrego do Feijão tailings dam near Brumadinho1 in Minas Gerais, Brazil; and (2) recommend that the mining industry look to Vale’s subsequent remedial and preventative actions for guidance on how to alleviate tailings dam failure risks. The Initiative is governed by a Steering Committee led by the Church of England Pensions Board and Swedish Council on Ethics of the AP Funds, representing a group of 96 institutional investors with a collective USD 10.3 trillion in assets under management.