The Vale dam collapse that killed at least 60 people in Brazil is likely to complicate a settlement for a similar disaster at the Samarco iron ore mine more than three years ago.

Co-owners Vale and BHP have been in negotiations with the Brazilian government to restart the Samarco Mineracao iron ore mine as early as 2020.  In November 2015, the tailings dam collapsed and spilled 32 million cubic meters of contaminated red sludge water and waste onto the village of Bento Rodrigues.  The disaster killed 19 people, killed off the fish and wildlife in the Rio Doce River, and polluted local water supplies all the way down to the Atlantic Ocean.  Late last year, Brazilian prosecutors announced they had come to an agreement with BHP and Vale over compensation payments to settle the matter.

But last week, another Vale tailings dam failed at Corrego de Feijao and the death toll is even worse with at least 65 lives lost and hundreds still missing.  Federal prosecutor Jose Adercio Sampaio said that if Vale is culpable in the new disaster, it will change how his task force handles a US$41 Billion case against Samarco.

"We need to investigate what caused this new rupture, if there were the same causes as the Samarco case: a lack of monitoring, incomplete information, neglect," said Mr. Adercio Sampaio.

The fallout is likely to be worse for Vale than for BHP, say some analysts.

"It's obviously an ongoing issue - while they do still have minority interest in Samarco, they wear these potential liabilities when they occur," said Jason Teh, Chief Investment Officer at Vertium Asset Management in Sydney.  "Samarco is quite small in terms of BHP's operations.  It's a small proportion of its total business.  BHP today has a pretty good balance sheet for any potential liabilities.”