The sinking of Braskem petrochemical mine 18, located in the former Centro Sportivo Alagoano (CSA) field, in Mutange, in Maceió (AL), saw a reduction of 0.25 centimeters per hour. The information was released by the city's Civil Defense today, December 5th.
The Maceió Civil Defense also announced that, in the last 24 hours, the accumulated displacement in the mine is 1.77 meters and the vertical speed shows a movement of six centimeters.
Even with the reduction in the risk of collapse at the mine in Maceió, Civil Defense warned that the maximum alert issued last week is still in force. The agency recommends that people do not walk through the affected area until a new update is issued.
Understand the case of the Brakem mine in Maceió
Last Thursday, November 30, Maceió City Hall warned that the city was in an emergency situation for 180 days due to the risk of the mine collapsing at any time.
According to the warning, the situation could cause the ground to sink in several neighborhoods in Maceió, such as Bebedouro, Bom Parto, Pinheiro, Mutange and Farol. With the alert, around 60 thousand people left homes, buildings and condominiums.
Braskem is a petrochemical company that extracts rock salt. Mine 18 is one of the 35 caves opened by Braskem.
According to Braskem, there is indeed the possibility of a major collapse in the mine area, but the soil may settle.
The minister of transport, Renan Filho, visited the area and emphasized the seriousness of the situation. That being the case, my situation in Maceió is serious. "We are talking about seismic shocks, sinking neighborhoods, consequences of a possible socio-environmental crime."
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What is rock salt?
Pietro Escobar, Chemistry teacher at the Student Oficina Course and College, explains that rock salt is the ore of salt. "It is important to say that everything called 'gem' is ore. The salt ore is NaCl (sodium chloride), that is, it is a NaCl ore", he warns.
The professor comments that rock salt, in Chile, is extracted from the desert; here, in Brazil, in the Northeast, in the mines, like those in the state of Alagoas, more precisely, in Maceió.
"Rock salt, which can also be called halite, is found in underground deposits formed by evaporation from the ocean. This raw material is mainly used by the chemical industry, in the production of caustic soda and sodium bicarbonate, as well as cleaning and hygiene products."
Consequences of the collapse of the Braskem mine in Maceió
Luis Felipe, Geography professor at Colégio Oficina do Estudante, comments that the situation of collapse in Maceió, due to Braskem mining, presents itself as
consequence of mining for more than 40 years.
According to the professional, this rock salt mining was interrupted in 2019, through a strategy of pumping water in the deepest parts of the soil to dilute and then extract this rock salt, and a filling made, artificially, to replace this natural material, which is extracted from the ground
In the professional's opinion, it is still not possible to completely measure the impacts of this collapse, especially in the medium and long term, because no one knows exactly which substances were used there to fill these mining areas and until this movement of soil accommodation is definitively established, and this could take years, the situation continues very unpredictable.
The professor comments that the collapse of the Brakem mine in Maceió is yet another environmental crime that stands as a warning for inspection bodies and the
civil society in general begins to look more cautiously, more carefully.
"It is also necessary to see in a more humanized way, this scale that puts on one side the profit that companies obtain to sustain production, consumption, industry, and, on the other hand, the catastrophes and socio-environmental crimes that the exploitation of nature, when done inappropriately and negligently, can cause"
*With information from Agência Brasil
Image credit:
[1] Itawi Albuquerque/ Secom from Maceió City Hall
By Silvia Tancredi
Journalist