Brazil's Vale to pay $3,200 to residents to compensate for dam burst that killed 300

[February 21, 2019]  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Miner Vale SA said on Thursday it would pay adult residents in the Brazilian town of Brumadinho a total of 12,000 reais ($3,227.02) as compensation for the damage from a dam that collapsed and killed over 300 people in January.

A view of a collapsed tailings dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA, in Brumadinho, Brazil February 13, 2019. REUTERS/Washington Alves

The payment is the equivalent of 12 monthly minimum wages in Brazil. The company said it would pay half that amount for every teenager and 25 percent for every child. It did not say when the payments would begin.

Vale, the world's biggest iron ore miner, has faced global outrage and scrutiny since the dam, which held back mining byproducts, burst in January, in the company's second such disaster in four years. Over a hundred people are still missing.

The company took out full-page ads in Brazilian newspapers on Thursday to announce the payments, calling them an act of "respect to the families affect by the tragedy" and an "unprecedented deal in the history of Brazil."

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun and José Roberto Gomes; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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