BHP BILLITON SAYS THAT CONTAMINATION FROM A BURST DAM WAS NOT AS BAD AS FEARED

Contamination from a burst dam at iron ore mine in Brazil is not as bad first thought, BHP Billiton has reported, in the latest stage of its campaign to manage the fallout from a fatal mining accident two months ago.

The dam at the mine in Minas Gerais province burst on November 5, unleashing a wave of floodwater that flattened a village and washed into the River Doce. The accident, the cause of which is still being investigated, left 17 people dead with two still missing.

BHP said that satellite images showed that around 32 million cubic metres of tailings – a mixture of mud and waste water– had polluted a 416-mile stretch of the River Doce, below initial estimates of 50 million cubic metres.

Around 85pc of the tailings remained within 53 miles of the burst dam.