THE DECOMMISSIONING OF DAMS AND THE MINE CLOSURE PLAN AS MINING RISK MITIGATION INSTRUMENTS

Mining modifies the environment and produces socioenvironmental risks, clearly seen from the occurrence of disasters that marked the trajectory of mineral exploration in Brazil. The objective of this paper is to analyze, from the perspective of the principles of prevention and the polluter pays, the effectiveness of the norms that prohibited the use of the so-called upstream dam method and determined the decommissioning of tailings dams, in addition to those that determine mine closure and repair of the area degraded by mining. The research was based on primary and secondary data consisting of analysis of legislative texts and doctrine. It was possible to conclude that the public power should encourage the implementation of the internalisation of negative externalities by mining enterprises, requiring the adoption of preventive measures.