BHP Billiton, the world's second largest mining company, has pulled its top executives out of a global mine forum in Melbourne where they were due to deliver keynote speeches, in order to deal with the fallout from the company's Brazilian dam disaster.
Bryan Quinn, BHP's head of technology, geoscience and engineering, was one of three company leaders booked to speak on Wednesday at the International Mining and Resources Conference.
The two other executives were BHP's chief people officer, Athalie Williams, and vice-president of community relations, Ian Wood. Both were due to be part of a panel discussion regarding the societal and environmental effects of mining - a grim irony given the tragic events last week at Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil.
BHP announced on Wednesday it was withdrawing the leading identities from the conference's speaking schedule, saying they were needed elsewhere.
"Understandably, they must prioritize their focus on the incident at the Samarco iron ore operation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, " BHP said in statement.
Last Thursday, two dams at the Samarco mine - partly owned by Brazilian company Vale - burst their banks, with 120 million tonnes of recycled water and ground-rock tailing gushing down on the valley below.
Three people have been found dead to date, with another 25 people still missing. The power of the displaced waste water destroyed a nearby town and is reported to have mixed with the local river stream up to 70 kilometers away.
BHP has pledged a worldwide safety audit of all its tailing dams, and is yet to determine what caused the tragedy.
BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie said he would visit the incident site this week to meet with the Samarco response team, authorities and members of the community to understand first-hand the human, environmental and operational effects of the incident. Shares of the company fell 5.6 percent on Monday to a seven-year low, followed by a 1.62 percent slump Wednesday morning.
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