Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #29...


Ó Minas Gerais | My Land Our Landscape #29  

Dry Season, 2016.
Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  
Tailings/Waste Dam. Vale mining company.

A mine tailing dam is a colossal structure that holds the residues of mining explorations - with a current low market value - mixed with water. In Itabira, the more than 20 dams around the mining explorations occupy around 9.35 square miles. That could be compared to 3,384 soccer fields. Its largest tailing dam recently received authorization to expand and will have the capacity to hold 58billion gallons of mud.

This is Brazil's first large-scale corporate mine, founded in 1942 from an agreement between the US, the UK, and Brazil to provide iron/steel for WWII.

Image made with Large Format Positive Film using a Speed Graphic camera - circa 1940-1950s - adapted for aerial photography with the help of 2 mining community members.  

19°37'0.107" S 43°10'55.367" W

Júlia Pontés

Júlia Pontés (b.1983 - Minas Gerais, Brazil) - Based in Sao Paulo, New York, and Buenos Aires. She is a skilled drone pilot, aerial photographer, photographic printer and her photographic knowledge range from Large Format Film photography to advanced Photoshop skills.
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