Samarco could begin partial production in 2020 after dam burst – Vale CEO

Samarco, a joint mining venture between Brazil's Vale and BHP Billiton, could resume production at a third of its capacity at the beginning of 2020, Vale's CEO said on Tuesday.

Samarco halted operations in late 2015 after one of its dams collapsed, killing 19 people and causing one of Brazil's worst ever environmental disasters. The incident happened when the dam, designed to hold back mine waste from the Samarco iron pellets operation in Mariana, burst and unleashed a trail of destruction across hundreds of kilometers in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo states.