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.
A potential agreement between the Brazilian government and miner Vale related to railway concessions could be signed as early as this month and reach some 20 billion reais ($3.70 billion), the country’s transport minister said on Wednesday.
The Brazilian government has been aiming to remove discounts given to rail companies by the previous administration when they received an early renewal of their contracts.
It has already reached contracts with companies Rumo and MRS.
Minister Renan Filho told journalists at an event in Rio de Janeiro that Vale had proposed to pay part of the amount under a potential agreement by investing in railways construction work.
Vale said in a statement that discussions with the transport ministry over the railway concessions contracts remain.
Two railways of Vale in Brazil would be directly affected by a potential deal, the Northern railway of Carajas and the Southeastern Vitoria-Minas.
($1 = 5.4032 reais)
(By Rodrigo Viga Gaier, Marta Nogueira and Andre Romani; Editing by Diane Craft and Sarah Morland)
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