Vale-BHP Brazil joint venture Samarco names mining executive as new CFO

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture between BHP Billiton <BHP.Ax><BLT.L> and Vale SA <VALE3.SA>, on Wednesday named former Usiminas <USIM5.SA> mining executive Cristina Cavalcanti as its new chief financial officer.

Cavalcanti joins Samarco as it attempts to renegotiate billions of dollars in debt with creditors and restart operations after a tailing dam burst in 2015, killing 19 people. Cavalcanti previously worked as administrative and financial director at Mineracao Usiminas, the mining unit of steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Additional reporting by Alberto Alerigi Jr.)