Factbox - Major mine dam accidents from Brazil to China

(Reuters) - A dam holding back waste water from an iron ore mine in Brazil owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton burst on Thursday, spewing industrial waste and reportedly killing as many as 16 people. This is the latest fatal accident at a major mine in recent years. The following is a list of other recent accidents at mines worldwide. * September 2014 At least one person died in a landslide at a privately owned iron ore mine in Brazil's central state of Minas Gerais. Three others were rescued by the fire service. The landslide occurred at the mine of Herculano Mineração. * August 2014 A river spill from the Buenavista copper mine in Mexico leaked 40,000 cubic meters of toxic mining acid into the Bacanuchi river. The mine is operated by Buenavista del Cobre, a unit of Grupo Mexico. * July 2014 A massive spill from a dam at Imperial Metal Corp's Mount Polley mine containing mine waste in British Columbia, Canada, sent billions of gallons of wastewater and sludge into waterways. * July 2011 Sichuan Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant in China had a dam failure that left thousands without drinking water. * October 2010 An accident at an alumina plant in Hungary owned by MAL Zrt killed nine, injured more than 120 and polluted a tributary of the Danube when the wall of a sludge reservoir failed. * January 2010 A dam burst at Mineracao Rio Pomba Cataguases' bauxite mine in Mirai. The mine was owned by industrial group Industrias Quimicas Cataguases. Regulators estimated that 2 million cubic meters of mud arising from bauxite-washing flooded into the nearby river and surrounding area when the 30-meter (98-feet) high dam burst. (Compiled by Josephine Mason; Editing by Bill Rigby)