EXCLUSIVE-Brazil prosecutor says Vale dam burst may scramble Samarco talks

The Brazilian prosecutor running talks to settle a lawsuit over a 2015 tailings dam rupture at the Samarco mine told Reuters that a deadly dam burst on Friday at a mine run by Vale SA "may completely change the course of those talks."

Federal prosecutor Jose Adercio Sampaio said in a Saturday interview that, depending on Vale's culpability in the new disaster, it may change how his task force handles a 155 billion reais ($41 billion) case against Samarco Mineracao SA, a Vale joint venture with BHP Group. That case is currently suspended amid negotiations for a potential settlement.

($1 = 3.7695 reais) (Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Writing by Brad Haynes; Editing by Sandra Maler)