Reuters exclusively reports final settlement for Brazil’s Samarco dam disaster could reach $19 bln

Reuters exclusively reported that a definitive settlement with miner Samarco and owners, BHP Group and Vale SA, for the damage caused by a burst tailings dam in 2015 could reach 100 billion reais. The dam collapsed at the Samarco iron ore mine near the town of Mariana in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is widely regarded as the country’s largest-ever environmental disaster. It released enough thick red sludge to fill about 12,000 Olympic swimming pools, flattened an entire village, killed 19 people and left hundreds homeless. That estimate is nearly four times higher than an initial deal struck with mining companies in 2016.