BHP Billiton faces litigation in the UK due to the dam failure of the Samarko tailings mine in Brazil

Release time：Jun 14, 2019 From：admin

Recently, BHP Billiton posted a message on the official website, saying that it noticed that the media is reporting on the group’s face-war lawsuit in the UK due to the dam collapse of the Samarko tailings mine in Brazil on November 5, 2015. In this regard, BHP Billiton confirmed that it has accepted a lawsuit against the Samarko tailings dam breach in the Liverpool Business and Property Court in the UK and will defend the lawsuit.

It is understood that SPG law firm filed a high-priced lawsuit against the Liverpool Business and Property Court in the United Kingdom, claiming that millions of tons of iron ore scrap contaminated local water sources, killing 11 tons of fish and damaging large protected forests. Most of the funds recovered from the lawsuit will be used to repair the local environment, such as restoring the fish resource ecosystem and replanting trees.

In addition, the case will seek compensation for 235,000 individual customers, including villagers and local community members in the village of Bento Rodrigues around the Samako tailings pond.

On November 5, 2015, a dam-breaking accident occurred in the tailings pool of the Mariana Iron Mine, operated by the mining company Samarco, a joint venture established by Vale and BHP Billiton, killing 19 people, including 14 field workers and 5 The villagers of the village of Torodrigues.

After the dam failure, the Renoir Foundation was established in BHP Billiton and Vale to compensate those affected by the disaster. BHP Billiton has reserved about 1.6 billion pounds for the foundation, which is comparable to Vale. Recently, BHP Billiton said that the Renoir Foundation has been providing compensation and support to those affected by the dam-breaking accident.

It is understood that SPG law firm also needs to submit more documents to the court, when BHP Billiton will have four weeks to respond to the allegations, but it may ask for an extension of this time.