⁍ Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA has not complied with a number of commitments signed with authorities to prevent a third disaster.

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⁍ Twenty-nine dams that Vale uses to store mining waste still present elevated safety risks, according to federal prosecutor Edison Vitorelli.

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⁍ Some of the mines linked to the dams that Vitorelli’s team regard as unsafe are vital to Vale’s plans to recover lost iron ore production.

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– A third disaster is in the works for Brazil’s Vale—and this one could be even worse than the one that killed 270 people last year. Federal prosecutor Edison Vitorelli tells Reuters that 22 of 29 dams the company uses to store mining waste still pose safety risks, despite promises made to authorities after the 2015 disaster. “If only these events were isolated, but they are not,” Vitorelli says. “All the 29 dams are problematic and Vale has been disobeying the agreements to this date.” Vitorelli is part of a task force of about two dozen federal and state prosecutors who pressed charges against Vale after the most recent disaster, which killed 270 people in the state of Minas Gerais. Some of the mines linked to the dams that Vitorelli’s team regard as unsafe are vital to Vale’s plans to recover lost iron ore production and grow capacity to 450 million tons of iron ore per year, a level that would make it once again the world’s largest producer of the steel-making raw material. Vale denied the allegations in a response to Reuters, saying it has regular meetings with the prosecutors and auditors, it promptly addresses possible risks, and is on schedule to fulfill all its commitments. The task force requested earlier this month that Vale’s top executives in charge of safety operations be removed and for an external expert to be brought in to revamp the company’s strategy and culture around safety. A judge is expected to rule on the request in early October.