Brazil's Mining Company to Pay Over $5Bln in Damages After Dam Collapse

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Brazilian mining company Samarco Mineracao has agreed to pay at least 20 billion reais (about $5.1 billion) in damages following a major dam collapse.

"We literally worked day and night on this deal," Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams said in Brasilia on Wednesday, as quoted by Bloomberg.

The agreement between Samarco and Brazil’s authorities stipulates that in addition to 20 billion reais that will provide compensation for social, economic and environmental damages, the company will allocate over 4.1 billion reais (about $1 billion) over the next 15 years under a special environmental plan.

The Financial Times quoted Luis Inacio Adams as saying on Wednesday that the total sum could end up being as much as 30 billion reais ($7.7 billion).

"We don’t know and no one knows how much is needed in repairs and compensation," the attorney general said at a press conference with Brazilian Minister of the Environment Izabella Teixeira.

On November 5, 2015 a dam collapsed at a Samarco iron-ore mine leading to the death of over a dozen people and causing major contamination of nearby land and the Doce River.

The Brazilian government sued BHP Billiton and Vale, the co-owners of Samarco, in November, after the dam spill, demanding 20 billion reais from the companies and the mine operator to create a fund to cover clean-up costs and provide compensation for the victims.

Ecologists estimate that full environmental recovery following the incident will take about 100 years.