Samarco Is Close to a Settlement With Brazil Prosecutors

Joint venture partners Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd. have already secured four court extensions to negotiate the settlement of a multibillion-dollar claim stemming from a fatal tailings dam disaster in 2015. The press departments of Vale, BHP and Samarco declined to comment. The settlement would bring together two separate claims: 155 billion reais ($41 billion) sought by federal prosecutors and 20 billion reais sought by the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in a civil suit.