Vale informs that today it started, as a preventive measure, the emergency protocol at Level 1¹ for the Taquaras sediment dam, of the Mar Azul mine, in Nova Lima (MG), protocol that does not require the evacuation of the population in the Self-Rescue Zone (ZAS), downstream of the dam.  It is reinforced that the ZAS was evacuated in February 2019, following the activation of the emergency protocol at Level 2 for the B3/B4 dam, also of the Mar Azul mine, which is placed west of the Taquaras dam.

The decision is a preventive measure, resulting from the additional step of assessing of Vale's structures in Brazil after the implementation of the Engineer of Record (EoR) function, in January of this year. The EoR is a good practice, recommended by the Mining Association of Canada and the Canadian Dam Association, and aims to give greater reliability and quality to the process of dam safety monitoring and review, which is now continuous. The decision to change the emergency level is associated with the identification of anomaly in the upstream slope of the dam during routine inspection. The Taquaras dam had its Stability Condition Statement (DCE) issued on March 31st, 2020. However, and based on this new observed fact, the DCE will be issued as negative.

The Mar Azul mine is an asset which does not belong to Vale's production chain since October 2018. Therefore, the decision above-mentioned does not impact Vale's 2020 iron ore production guidance of 310-330 million tons.

¹ _{As per the Emergency Action Plan for Mining Dams ("PAEBM").}