Just four months after a deadly November mudslide destroyed an entire mining community in southwestern Brazil, the companies responsible were working toward a resumption of iron-ore production by year end. As recently as March, hundreds of people left homeless by the disaster were sleeping in new beds. Children who had lost their school were hitting the books at renovated buildings. Thousands of animals and fish had been saved or relocated away from areas polluted by-billions of gallons of sludge. All paid for by the mine and its owners, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA, which had agreed on a 12-billion reais ($3.67-billion) plan with the government to clean up after a dam holding mine waste burst in November.
