Brazilian court clears BHP, Vale and Samarco of charges in 2015 dam disaster
A court in Belo Horizonte ruled that state prosecutors failed to prove that "individual actions" directly contributed to the collapse of the dam.
Anglo American Plc said on Monday it was giving 30 days’ leave to 766 workers at its suspended Minas-Rio mine in Brazil as of Tuesday.
The company halted production and transport operations for 90 days at the mine at the start of April to comply with a request by authorities that it inspects a pipeline that has leaked twice.
Anglo froze operations at the mine in the Minas Gerais state after the second leak was discovered on March 29, in a pipeline which carries iron ore in slurry to an export terminal in coastal Rio de Janeiro.
Another leak in a different section of the same pipeline prompted Anglo to suspend operations at the mine from March 12-27, raising fresh questions about mining oversight in Brazil.
The company said essential security activities would be maintained at Minas-Rio, from where 98 employees have been transferred to a nickel mine in Goias state.
Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien.
