Multinational mining company BHP reached an agreement on Friday with its Brazilian counterpart Vale to split the cost of any damages related to legal proceedings in the United Kingdom over the 2015 dam collapse that killed 19 people in Brazil equally, while the company denies liability for related claims.
BHP Group (UK) Ltd and its parent company BHP have been sued in a class action in the High Court of England, brought by more than 600,000 claimants seeking compensation over the failure of the Fundão Dam in 2015.
The company said on Friday that BHP and Vale would each pay 50% of any potential amounts covered by claimants in the UK and Dutch proceedings and others in Brazil covered by the settlement.
It reinforces the framework agreement signed in 2016 for BHP Brasil and Vale to each contribute 50% to the financing of the Renova Foundation, which was created to ensure full and fair repair of the damage caused by the dam collapse.
“BHP believes that the English proceedings are unnecessary as they duplicate matters already covered by Renova’s existing and ongoing business and legal proceedings in Brazil,” the company said.
It added that BHP will continue to defend the legal proceedings in the UK and does not consider itself liable to the relevant claimants.
More than 720,000 Brazilians are suing the two companies over the collapse of the dam, which was owned and operated by their joint venture, Samarco.
BHP said that in March, a new lawsuit was filed against the Dutch subsidiary of Vale and Samarco in the Netherlands, in which BHP was not a defendant.
As UK proceedings against Vale had not been commenced, BHP filed a contribution claim against Vale in December 2022, which has now been withdrawn due to the new agreement.
“The effect of the agreement is that if BHP is ultimately found to have any liability to claimants in the UK claims, or if Vale is ultimately found to have any liability to claimants in the Netherlands, that liability will be shared equally between BHP and Vale,” Vale said in a separate statement.
The collapse of a tailings dam at the Samarco iron ore mine near Mariana, Minas Gerais state, in November 2015, unleashed a massive flow of sludge and mining waste that buried a nearby town, killing 19 people, leaving hundreds homeless and polluting the Doce River.
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