The owners of an iron ore mine where a burst dam spewed a toxic flood, flattening a village and killing 19 people, settled with the Brazilian government Wednesday for $6.1 billion.

Representatives of Samarco -- co-owned by Brazil's Vale iron ore giant and the Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company -- signed an accord in the capital Brasilia. President Dilma Rousseff said the money would help heal "a tragedy without precedent."