BHP and Vale reach process agreement in United Kingdom related to Marianas

Mining giants BHP and Vale reached an agreement on Friday to share equally the cost of any damages related to UK lawsuits over a 2015 dam collapse in Brazil that killed 19 people, while denying responsibility for related complaints.

BHP Group and its Anglo-Australian parent company BHP are defendants in a class-action lawsuit in the English High Court seeking more than 600,000 claims for compensation for the collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana (MG).

The dam is owned by mining company Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and Vale. Its collapse killed 19 people and dumped about 40 million cubic meters of mud into communities 650 km away, the Dose River and the Atlantic Ocean.

Both BHP and Vale will pay 50% of any sums owed to claimants in the UK proceedings, the Netherlands proceedings and other proceedings in Brazil, BHP said on Friday.

The agreement reinforces an earlier agreement signed in 2016 for BHP Brazil and Vale, each contributing 50% to the financing of the Renova Foundation, which was created to guarantee full and fair reparation of damage caused by the dam collapse.

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

BHP will defend itself in the UK proceedings and will not be held liable for any related claimants, it added.

In March, a new lawsuit was filed against Vale and Samarco's Dutch subsidiary in the Netherlands, in which BHP said it was not a defendant.

As no UK action was taken against Vale, BHP brought a contribution claim against Vale in December 2022, which has now been withdrawn due to the new contract.

“The effect of the agreement is that if it is concluded that BHP has any liability to claimants in the UK claims, or if any liability to claimants in the Netherlands is ultimately attributed to Vale, such liability will be split equally between BHP and Vale,” Vale said in a separate statement.