"Judge sets date for multi-billion-pound Brazil dam lawsuit", 16 January 2023

...A high court judge has ruled that a £10bn lawsuit against mining giant BHP for damage caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam in Brazil can go ahead in UK courts...An eight-week trial is due to take place in April 2024 following the recent High Court ruling...

The collapse of the Fundão dam in southeast Brazil on 5 November 2015 was the country’s worst ever environmental disaster...It caused a flood that killed 19 people, destroyed entire villages and had a widespread impact on numerous individuals and communities, as well as polluting 643km of the River Doce.

In 2016, a panel found that the dam failed because conditions necessary for liquefaction to occur within the dam were present prior to failure. It also concluded that lateral extrusion of slimes-rich deposits underneath sand tailings provided the mechanism to trigger the liquefaction flowslide.

The mine in the state of Minas Gerais was owned and operated by Brazilian company Samarco that is a joint venture between Vale and BHP. The claims are being brought jointly against BHP UK and BHP Australia.

The claimants are all Brazilian and include more than 200,000 individuals; 530 businesses, ranging from large companies to sole traders; 15 churches and faith-based institutions; 25 municipalities; and five utility companies. They also include members of the Krenak community who have particular community rights, and for whom the river plays a unique part in their spiritual traditions...

BHP denies the claims in their entirety and believes that the proceedings are unnecessary because they duplicate matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and legal proceedings in Brazil...

In a statement, the company added: “BHP will continue to defend the English Proceedings, which it believes are unnecessary because they duplicate matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and legal proceedings in Brazil”...