Brazil mining firm behind spill fined another $30m

The owner of a mining waste reservoir that burst in Brazil last month in a huge and deadly environmental disaster has been fined an additional $30 million, the company said Thursday.

This comes on top of roughly $400 million that the mining company Samarco has either agreed to paid out in damages, been fined or seen frozen in its bank accounts.

The new punishment was imposed by the government of southeastern Minas Gerais state, where the reservoir gave way on November 5, killing 10 people and leaving 15 missing.

A village in the path of the torrent of toxic iron ore much was practically buried.

This new fine is for environmental cleanup operations, Samarco said in a statement.

Samarco is a joint venture of Australia's BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining firm, and Brazil's Vale, the biggest iron ore miner.

The spill contaminated some 500 kilometers (310 miles) of the Doce River in Minas Gerais and the neighboring state of Espirito Santo, destroying crops and killing fish, turtles and other animals.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixera has said it will take at least a decade for the river to recover fully.

But environmental experts have said the environmental fallout of the disaster could drag on for a century.