BHP Billiton faces £30bn compensation claim over Brazil dam disaster
Source: The Guardian
BHP Billiton faces £30bn compensation claim over Brazil dam disaster
Mining subsidiary Samarco blamed for country’s worst environmental
tragedy, which left 19 dead, but critics say legal case is politically
motivated
Terry Macalister
Wednesday 4 May 2016 17.31 BST
The mining group BHP Billiton and its partner Vale are facing a 155bn reais (£30bn) claim from Brazilian prosecutors over an iron ore mine dam collapse last year that released a torrent of toxic mud, killing 19 people and leaving 700 homeless.
Shares in the London-listed BHP plunged almost 10% after the charges were revealed into what is being called Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster. They closed down nearly 6%.
The damages claim has been based on the clean-up costs of BP’s Deepwater Horizon accident in the US, say federal prosecutors in Minas Gerais, south-east Brazil, where the two companies’ joint mining venture, Samarco, is based.
“Preliminary studies show the human, economic and socio-environmental impacts of the collapse of the dam are, at least, equivalent to those verified in the Gulf of Mexico,” they said. “It does not seem credible, neither technically nor morally, that the value of the human, cultural and physical environment in Brazil should be worth less than other countries,” they added in a statement.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/04/bhp-billiton-faces-30bn-compensation-claims-over-brazil-dam-disaster
