BHP and Vale reach agreement over Mariana dam collapse proceedings in the UK

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) reached a deal with Vale (NYSE: VALE) on Friday to equally share the cost of any damages related to proceedings in Britain over the 2015 Mariana dam collapse.

Brazil’s worst environmental disaster caused a wave of toxic tailings that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests, and polluted the entire length of the Doce River.

BHP is a defendant in a group action claim in the English High Court, brought by more than 600,000 victims seeking damages for the Fundão Dam failure in Minas Gerais state.

BHP and Vale will each pay 50% of any amount potentially payable to the claimants in the UK proceedings, the Netherlands proceedings, and other related proceedings in Brazil, BHP said.

In 2016, BHP Brasil and Vale agreed to each contribute 50% to the funding of the Renova Foundation, which was set up to ensure full and fair remediation for the damages caused by the dam collapse.

“BHP believes the English proceedings are unnecessary because they duplicate matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and legal proceedings in Brazil,” the company said.

It added that BHP will continue to defend the UK proceedings and does not consider itself liable to the related claimants.

More than 720,000 people are suing the two companies over the dam’s collapse, which was owned and operated by their Samarco joint venture.

In March, 78,000 people filed a new claim against Vale and the Dutch subsidiary of Samarco in the Netherlands, in which BHP is not a defendant.

Since the UK proceedings were not brought against Vale, BHP filed a contribution claim against Vale in December 2022, which has now been withdrawn due to the new agreement.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 should BHP ultimately be found to have any liability to the claimants in the UK claims, or should Vale ultimately be found to have any liability to the claimants in the Netherlands, such liability would be shared equally between BHP and Vale,” Vale said in a separate statement.

Vale, BHP, and Samarco presented Brazilian authorities with a $26.09 billion offer to settle reparations for the dam collapse earlier in June after Brazil rejected a previous offer.