Vale in Talks on Payments to Brazil's Dam Disaster Victims -- Update
January 31 2019 - 6:05PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeffrey T. Lewis and Paulo Trevisani
SÃO PAULO -- Brazilian mining giant Vale SA hopes to sign a deal
with the state of Minas Gerais soon so it can start paying damages
to the victims of the collapse last week of a tailings dam owned by
the company.
The dam, which burst on Jan. 25, has claimed at least 110 lives,
with 238 more missing and feared dead, civil-defense authorities
said Thursday.
Vale Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said Thursday it
is too soon to know how much the damages might amount to. The
accident took place in Minas Gerais, and that is where the legal
process will play out, Mr. Schvartsman told reporters after a
meeting in Brazil's capital with the federal government's top
prosecutor, Raquel Dodge.
"We're ready to skip the lawsuits, seeking an agreement as
quickly as possible with the authorities of Minas Gerais, allowing
Vale to begin the process immediately," he said.
The tailings dam's collapse in the small Brazilian town of
Brumadinho released a torrent of muddy mining waste that swept away
offices and a crowded lunchroom nearby belonging to Vale. The
company has said that most of the victims worked either directly or
indirectly for Vale.
Investors and analysts are watching the investigation and the
legal process closely to try to determine how much the disaster
will cost the company, though it will likely take years to
determine the total amount. Vale's shares plunged almost 25% on
Monday, the first day of trading after the accident, but have since
regained some of that ground.
Brazilians have been riveted by the frequently televised efforts
of rescue workers to locate victims' corpses and by the death toll,
and the country's lawmakers, regulators and justice system have
been quick to propose new legislation, impose fines and investigate
the causes of the tragedy.
A spokesman for rescue workers said that locating and
identifying the bodies are getting more difficult because the
corpses have started to decay and many of them are buried under
more mud than the ones they have already found.
The Brazilian government plans to streamline an application
process for environmental licenses, Environment Minister Ricardo
Salles said Thursday.
Vale has also taken additional actions to give financial aid to
families affected by the disaster. The company said earlier this
week it would make a donation of 100,000 reais ($27,500) to the
families of people who are dead or missing following the dam's
collapse, and on Thursday Vale started taking information from
family members. The minimum wage in Brazil is 988 reais ($275) a
month.
Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com and Paulo
Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 31, 2019 17:50 ET (22:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
VALE ON (BOV:VALE3)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
VALE ON (BOV:VALE3)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024