BHP, Vale Reach Settlement in Brazil to Make Some Payments Over 2015 Dam Collapse
03 October 2018 - 8:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU), Vale SA (VALE) and their Brazilian
iron-ore mining venture have settled with state prosecutors in
Brazil over one of the civil claims filed in the wake of a fatal
2015 dam failure.
The partial settlement of claims moves the legal process forward
a step and will allow a foundation set up by the companies and
their joint venture, Samarco Mineracao SA, to make payments to some
of those affected by the dam's collapse.
The agreement on how a compensation program will be administered
in Mariana, Mina Gerais, was reached between the companies and the
local prosecutor in Mariana, and was ratified by the State Court of
Mariana this week.
The November 2015 disaster in southeast Brazil released at least
32 million cubic meters of mine detritus-enough to fill the Dallas
Cowboys' AT&T Stadium 11 times-which destroyed villages and
polluted more than 400 miles of rivers before spewing into the
Atlantic Ocean.
The prosecutor's office in the state of Minas Gerais filed a
claim against BHP, Vale and Samarco in December 2015 for moral and
material damages to an unspecified group of affected individuals,
including payments for housing and economic assistance, accord to
BHP's latest annual report. Payments have been held up by court
proceedings including petitions from people in Brazil.
The claim was one of several against the companies and the joint
venture in Brazil for billions of dollars. The parties in June
entered an agreement to settle an about $5.2 billion public civil
claim and established a process to renegotiate to push ahead with
settlement of an about $20 billion claim by Brazil's federal public
prosecutions office.
The Samarco mining and processing operations have remained
suspended since the dam broke.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 03, 2018 05:46 ET (09:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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