Brazilian pellet producer Samarco, along with its shareholders Vale and BHP Billiton, requested a local court to extend the deadline to pay a BRL 1.2 billion ($372.2 million) dam disaster guarantee, Vale said this week.
In November, a Brazilian court in the state of Minas Gerais gave Vale, BHP Billiton and Samarco 30 days to pay the BRL 1.2 billion guarantee, so the companies could clean up the Samarco mine following the Mariana disaster in November 2015.
At that time, the companies requested the deadline to be extended until January 9, 2017.
In a securities exchange filing by Vale this week, it said the three companies filed a joint request to postpone the deadline to January 19, 2017. The payment should be made to a court in Minas Gerais this Monday.