An upstream iron ore tailings dam operated by mining corporation Vale at the Córrego do Feijão mine near Brumadinho, Brazil, suffers a catastrophic structural failure. The collapse releases a massive wave of millions of cubic meters of toxic mud that engulfs the mine's administrative complex, local farms, and residential areas, killing 270 people and causing severe environmental devastation down the Paraopeba river basin. The disaster sparks global outrage over mining safety standards, corporate negligence, and regulatory failures in the international mining industry.

This mining disaster sparks an immediate wave of elegiac and eco-protest poetry across Brazil. Contemporary poets write verses that mourn the victims buried beneath the iron sludge, transforming the toxic red mud into a potent symbol of corporate greed and environmental degradation. The tragedy prompts a wider literary exploration of the 'extractivist curse' in Latin America, where poets contrast the living, sacred value of rivers and earth with the destructive priorities of heavy mining corporations.