BHP, Vale Ink $30 Billion Settlement for Brazil Dam Disaster
- Dam collapse in 2015 killed 19 people in Brazil’s Southeast
- BHP is still facing a class-action lawsuit in the UK
A man looks at where a dam burst in the village of Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, in 2015.
Photographer: Douglas Magno/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
BHP Group and Vale SA have signed a 170 billion-real ($29.8 billion) settlement with Brazil over the deadly Mariana dam collapse in 2015 at their iron ore joint venture.
The settlement, which includes 38 billion reais, or about $6.7 billion, of money already spent by the companies, is the largest of its kind globally, according to Brazil’s attorney general. It removes a significant legal overhang for the two mining giants, although BHP still faces a parallel class-action lawsuit in the UK tied to the disaster that involves as many as 620,000 people.