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BHP Group Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A settlement is under discussion to resolve a lawsuit brought by 200,000 Brazilians against British company BHP Group, which jointly owns mining company Samarco with Brazillian company Vale SA.
- Why: The Brazilian claimants sued BHP in a UK court over the Fundão Dam dam disaster, which destroyed village communities, contaminated rivers with toxic waste and demolished the area’s natural habitats. The claimants allege BHP was given notice of structural damage to the dam but did not do enough to stop it from collapsing.
- Where: The Fundão Dam disaster took place in the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil.
A settlement to provide restitution for one of Brazil’s largest environmental disasters could be as high as £13.8 billion, according to reports.
According to the governor of the Brazillian state of Minas Gerais, where the Fundão Dam dam disaster took place six years ago, a final settlement in the catastrophe has been placed at up to 100 billion reais, or about £13.82 billion, Reuters reported.
The settlement seeks to resolve lawsuits and compensate for damage caused when the dam — located at an iron ore mine near the town of Mariana — burst in 2015.
The deal is under discussion with the UK’s BHP Group and Vale SA, the owners of mining company Samarco. BHP is known as the world’s largest mining company.
More than a million people were affected by the disaster. The Fundão Dam served as a storage place for iron ore tailings, which is toxic waste formed during the handling of mining the mineral.
After the dam gave way, it destroyed whole village communities, contaminated rivers with toxic waste and demolished the area’s natural habitats. The burst dam spilled out 40 million cubic metres of waste into residential areas, the Rio Doce river and the Atlantic Ocean.
The estimate of 100 billion reals is almost quadruple the value of a deal struck in 2016 for the incident.
Romeu Zema, governor of Minas Gerais, said the final settlement would also be looking to learn from another settlement made with Vale for a separate dam disaster in 2019. In that case, the company agreed to pay 37.69 billion reais (£5.21 billion).
Samarco, Vale, and BHP told Reuters they remain committed to repairing the damage done in the disaster.
In July 2020, more than 200,000 Brazilians affected by the dam collapse asked U.K. judges for permission to launch a class action lawsuit against BHP in the U.K..
They argued that BHP was responsible for the Fundão Dam catastrophe. The claimants were pursuing compensation for physical injuries, psychological harm, property damage, moving expenses, loss of income and loss of water supply.
Samarco, a Brazilian mining company and a joint venture between BHP and Vale, was accused of disregarding notices of safety warnings.
BHP was given notice that structural damage was imminent two years prior to the dam collapsing, according to those claimants. It is alleged the cracks in the dam showed early signs of impending danger.
BHP states it has been remedying the situation through the Revona Foundation, an independent firm dedicated to fixing the damage caused by the collapse of Fundão Dam.
BHP has given an amount of approximately £1.3 billion to the foundation. The funds have gone toward restoring villages and building new water supply systems.
What do you think about the possible settlement with the mining companies? Let us know in the comments!
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