"BHP says Samarco settlement approved", 10 August 2018

...BHP says a federal court in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais approved an agreement between miner Samarco and Brazil authorities, marking a milestone in the legal battle over a deadly 2015 dam failure.

A 20 billion reals ($US5.3 billion, $A7.2 billion) lawsuit against Samarco, which is a joint venture of BHP and Vale SA, was quashed by the accord, which was signed in June. An even more expansive lawsuit was also suspended under the agreement.

The company said it had separately agreed to pay $US50 million as part of a settlement for a class-action complaint filed by American depositary receipt (ADR) holders over the disaster...

Samarco told Reuters in a statement...that next year it expects to obtain licenses needed to resume operations.

...BHP still faces a class action in Australia over the dam's failure.