Brazil court rejects requests to block $15.7 billion from Vale, BHP

A Brazilian federal court rejected a request made by the country’s solicitor general’s office asking that miners Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco pay 79.6 billion reais ($15.64 billion) for the 2015 collapse of a tailings dam.

The request had been filed under a civil lawsuit in which the firm had already been ordered to pay the amount in January.

In his decision, a substitute federal judge of a court in Minas Gerais state said the issue had already been resolved in the previous ruling, which said the execution would happen after the end of litigation.

($1 = 5.0884 reais)

(By Marta Nogueira and Peter Frontini)