Vale, BHP offer $25-billion settlement related to reparations for 2015 Mariana disaster

Open this photo in gallery: Destroyed houses after a dam burst in the village of Bento Rodrigues, in Mariana, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on Nov. 6, 2015.DOUGLAS MAGNO/Getty Images Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco have presented Brazilian authorities with a settlement proposal related to reparations for the 2015 Mariana tailings dam burst, but local prosecutors still want them to bump up their offer. The proposal, the Brazilian mining giant said in a securities filing on Monday, foresees a total payment of 127 billion reais ($24.88-billion), including 37 billion reais already disbursed. The dam collapse at the Samarco iron ore mine near the town of Mariana in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais caused a vast flow of mud and mining waste that buried a nearby village, killing 19 people and leaving hundreds homeless. The November 2015 disaster also polluted a major river. Of the remaining amount the companies proposed to disburse, 72 billion reais would be paid to the federal and local governments over a period, Vale said. Some 18 billion reais would be used to settle future obligations. But the top prosecutor of Minas Gerais state still hopes for a bigger deal, he told Reuters in an...