Brazilian mining giant Vale said Thursday it made a net loss of 1.68 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, down from net earnings of 6.86 billion dollars in 2018.

The negative outcome was attributed mainly to the collapse of a tailings dam owned by Vale in Brumadinho in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in January 2019, which killed more than 270 people.

The company said that its cash generation in 2019 was 8.1 billion dollars, and that it "remains committed to increasing the safety of people and repairing the damage caused by the breach of Brumadinho dam."

In January, local prosecution office filed charges against 16 individuals, including former Chief Executive Officer of Vale Fabio Schvartsman, who was accused of homicide.

Prosecutors earlier said both Vale and consulting company TUV SUD were aware that an unacceptable degree of risk existed in the dam before it collapsed.

But the two companies did not inform the authorities. Instead, TUV SUD, which was supposed to make an independent audit of Vale's activities, colluded with Vale to make fake reports, authorities said.