MARIANA: Brazilian authorities investigating last week's fatal collapse of a mine waste reservoir have ordered operator Samarco to take emergency measures to deal with the catastrophic aftermath.
The announcement by prosecutors on Tuesday came as local officials said at least six people were killed in the disaster, raising an earlier death toll of four. Twenty-one people remain missing and 631 displaced.
The company, a joint venture between Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale, was issued with a court order requiring it to collect and preserve evidence related to the dam failures that triggered the deadly mudslide, said prosecutors in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo.
The dams that burst held giant ponds of waste water known as tailings.
The measure is aimed at making sure that victims can be compensated for damages the incident has caused in the state, prosecutors said.
Samarco must also provide a helicopter for an indefinite period of time to inspect areas affected by the nearly 60 million cubic meters (two billion cubic feet) of ochre sludge. The company will face a daily fine of about $13,000 if it fails to comply.
The mining waste burst through the retaining walls of the tailings dams at the Samarco iron ore mine on November 5, flattening most of the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues in the state of Minas Gerais.
Fears were mounting that the sludge, which flowed into local rivers, could contaminate the water supplies of more than half a million people in Minas Gerais and neighboring Espirito Santo.
The toxic mud has spread more than 400 kilometers along the Doce river, affecting several riverside communities.
Residents complained that the local water has a strong chemical smell, and posted photos on social media of ruined plantations and dead wildlife, including fish and turtles smothered in mud.
In Espirito Santo, a judge ordered state officials to test the Doce river water for contamination.
- Billiton executive to visit -
Minas Gerais officials ordered Samarco to halt operations, and the company has put 85 percent of its employees in the two states on paid leave.
Shares in BHP Billiton and Vale have fallen sharply since the disaster.
BHP Billiton's chief executive Andrew Mackenzie was due to visit the affected area "to understand first-hand the human, environmental and operational impacts of the incident," the company said.
Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira will travel to Mariana early Saturday, the company said, adding that it was supporting Samarco and that it had ordered safety inspections of its 115 other tailings pond dams.
"Evidently we cannot return to the past to recover the lives lost in this sad episode, but we are not going to limit our efforts to help rebuild the lives of each affected person, as well as recover the environment," Ferreira said in a statement.
The cleanup could cost more than $1 billion, Deutsche Bank analysts have warned.
Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Pinto, a state prosecutor specializing in environmental cases, alleged there was "negligence" involved.
"Prosecutors are now trying to judge the scale of the damage so that the public can be compensated."
Ratings agencies warned that the cut in iron and mineral production after the accident, as well as possible fines it could face if sued, threatened Samarco's position.
Moodys stripped Samarco of its investment-grade credit score, while Fitch put the firm on negative watch for a possible downgrade.
Threatening legal action, Minas Gerais state prosecutors called for Samarco to pay the 162 displaced families, set a schedule to move them from their temporary lodgings to homes and apartments, and set a plan for full compensation payment "so that the victims can get on with their lives."
President Dilma Rousseff, who has not visited the disaster zone, said that Tuesday her government was "extremely worried" about the accident.
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