Vale Dam Burst Prompts $1.7 Billion in Blocked Funds, Fines
- 34 confirmed deaths, search continues with hundreds missing
- Vale placed on CreditWatch with negative implications by S&P
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Brazilian authorities leveled Vale SA a combined $1.7 billion in blocked funds and fines as the human and ecological costs of a tailings dam disaster unfold.
A Minas Gerais state judge has blocked 5 billion reais (1.3 billion) from Vale, prosecutors said in a statement. Earlier Saturday a separate judge also blocked funds from Vale and it was fined by the Ibama environmental agency. The dam rupture is Vale’s second deadly accident in the same mining region in just over three years.