Samarco dam burst

On 5 November two of Samarco's tailings dams ruptured causing extensive flooding and mudslides resulting in an unconfirmed number of fatalities and missing people.Samarco is the world's second largest producer of iron ore pellets accounting for almost 20% of global exports. It is too soon to draw any firm conclusions regarding the impact on the iron ore market and the wider socio economic and environmental implications but the incident provides some upside risk to iron ore pellet premiums.