The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice, one of the highest courts in Brazil, has ruled that iron ore producer Vale should repay revenues it received from the Brazilian government over a company’s power plant that produced no energy in the past six years.
A media report by Estadao noted Vale received over BRL 500 million ($90.8 million) in revenues since November 2015 for the electricity it stopped producing that same year in the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais state. The reason the power plant stopped producing energy was the collapse of Samarco dam in Mariana city.
Brazilian electricity regulator, Aneel, had already requested that the Brazilian government and Brazilian taxpayers stop making payments to Vale for the electricity that hasn’t been produced or delivered by the miner.