(Adds comment from Vale) By Sabrina Valle and Luciano Costa SAO PAULO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Authorities from Brazil'sMinas Gerais state are seeking a freeze on nearly $5 billion inassets from miner Vale SA as a partial payment tocover economic and other damages from last year's deadlyBrumadinho dam disaster. In a statement on Wednesday, state and federal prosecutorsin Minas Gerais said they had sent a joint petition seeking ajudge's order for Vale to freeze 26.7 billion reais ($4.78billion) in assets for eventual restitution to the state. The authorities are also seeking 28 billion reais ($5.01billion) in collective "moral and social" damages. The petitioncalls for an immediate judgment against Vale.
The request is the latest in a series of legal actions takenagainst the company by state authorities since a mining wastedam burst in January 2019, unleashing an avalanche of mud thatkilled an estimated 270 people in Brumadinho city, burying manyof them alive. State judges granted prior requests to freeze assets madeimmediately following the mining disaster, the deadliest inBrazil's history. Vale said in a statement it had already provisioned 11billion reais, between guarantees and deposits ordered by ajudge. The company was not formally notified by authoritiesabout the latest request, which is part of the same civil caseopened in January 2019, it said.
The petition was signed by state prosecutors from MinasGerais, Minas Gerais state itself, the state's public defenseoffice and the federal public prosecution office in Minas.
Earlier this year, the same state authorities filed criminalaccusations against Vale executives including former ChiefExecutive Fabio Schvartsman. He was charged with knowing aheadof time about safety issues at the massive tailings dam andhelping to hide them.
Vale shares were little changed in afternoon trading at61.60, just off recent multi-month highs.
($1 = 5.5878 reais) (Reporting by Sabrina Valle and Luciano Costa; additionalreporting by Roberto Samora and Ana Mano; Editing by ChristianPlumb and Tom Brown)
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