Brazil state could ban dam design used at Samarco mine

A Brazilian state law to ban upstream tailings dams, the design used at a dam that collapsed at the Samarco iron ore mine in November, could be approved this year, an environmental official for the state of Minas Gerais told Reuters on Wednesday. Anderson Silva de Aguilar, the subsecretary for environmental regulation, also said Samarco, which is co-owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton, would not be resuming operations this year and may not in 2017 either.