"Brazil demands immediate $15.7 billion payment from Vale, BHP for Mariana disaster", 07 May 2024

...Brazil’s government on Tuesday filed a request before a federal court in Minas Gerais state asking that Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco pay 79.6 billion reais ($15.73 billion) for the Mariana tailings dam burst in 2015 within 15 days.

The dam collapse at the Samarco iron ore mine near the town of Mariana in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais caused a vast flow of mud and mining waste that buried a nearby village, killing 19 people and leaving hundreds homeless.

The solicitor general’s office (AGU) stated that if the amount is not paid...they will petition the court to block the companies’ assets.

According to the AGU, these measures are necessary because, nearly nine years after what is considered the largest environmental disaster in Brazilian mining history, the companies “have not yet been properly held accountable and continue to treat the reparation of the tragedy as just another indemnity case.”

The AGU further stated that the stance of the mining companies is “unacceptable” given the deaths in the disaster and the devastation of the Rio Doce watershed.

Last week, the Brazilian government and the State of Espírito Santo rejected a new compensation proposal presented by Samarco, Vale and BHP on Friday...