BRASILIA, March 2 (Reuters) - Mining company Samarco agreed with the Brazilian government to pay over 24 billion reais ($6.2 billion) in damages for a deadly dam spill in November, an environment ministry memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday said.
The memo said Samarco would pay 4.4 billion reais through 2018 into a government fund to cover the clean up caused by the spill of a tailings dam. Samarco is a joint venture between Vale SA VALE5.SA and BHP Billiton BLT.L .