Mining company Samarco to pay Brazil dam disaster damages

The owners of an iron ore mine in Brazil have settled with the government for a deadly dam spill. The toxic flood was the country's worst environmental disaster, polluted waterways and left 17 people dead. 

An estimated $6.2 billion (5.7 billion euros) is to to be paid by mining company Samarco and its owners over a period of fifteen years as part of an agreement for damages caused by last November's deadly dam spill. The funds will go toward remedying social and environmental damage.


At the ceremony to sign the agreement in Brasilia on Wednesday, President Dilma Rousseff said: "We want to build new life on the rubble of an unprecedented tragedy."
Brazil's worst environmental disaster forced hundreds of people to leave their homes and polluted one of the country's main rivers. A dam burst at a mining waste site unleashing a deluge of thick, red toxic mud that smothered a village.