BHP Facing Billions in Disaster Payouts Boosts Brazil Staff
- Senior executives deployed to speed settlement, restart mine
- Staff increased to 30 from 8, and moved closer to dam site
A fireman rescues a dog in Paracatu de Baixo, Minas Gerais, Brazil in November 2015.
Photographer: Douglas Magno/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Facing the prospect of billions of dollars in damages and debt obligations after the Samarco mine disaster, BHP Billiton Ltd. has more than tripled its staffing in Brazil, adding two top executives to the mix to oversee a push to restart operations.
On Nov. 5, a dam filled with sludge from the mine burst, killing as many as 19 people and leaving hundreds homeless. If Samarco Mineracao SA, the BHP-Vale SA joint venture that ran the mine can’t reopen it, the partnership won’t be able to meet $1 billion in debt obligations due in 2022, or pay damages valued as high as 12 billion reais ($3.3 billion).