11/13/2015

Brazil levies initial fines of $66 mln against mine for burst dams

Brazil's president slapped preliminary fines of 250 million reais ($66.2 million) against a mine in the country's southeast where two dams burst, killing nine people and coating a two-state area with mud and mine waste. The fines, announced after President Dilma Rousseff flew over the affected area, come as federal prosecutors announced plans to work with state prosecutors to investigate possible crimes that could have contributed to the disaster at the mine, jointly owned by two of the world's biggest mining companies, BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale SA.