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LONDON (AP) — A London judge Friday ruled that global mining giant BHP Group is liable in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster when a dam collapse 10 years ago unleashed tons of toxic waste into a major river, killing 19 people and devastating villages downstream.
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High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said Australia-based BHP was responsible despite not owning the dam at the time.
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Anglo-Australian BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where the tailings dam ruptured on Nov. 5, 2015. Enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools poured into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil.
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Sludge from the burst dam destroyed the once-bustling village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state and badly damaged other towns.
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The disaster also killed 14 tons of freshwater fish and damaged 600 kilometers (370 miles) of the Doce River, according to a study by the University of Ulster in the U.K. The river, which the Krenak Indigenous people revere as a deity, has yet to recover.
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Around 600,000 Brazilians are seeking 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in compensation, though the ruling only addressed liability. A second phase of the trial will determine damages.
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The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time.
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The trial began in October 2024, just days before Brazil’s federal government reached a multibillion-dollar settlement with the mining companies.
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Under the agreement, Samarco — which is also half owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale — agreed to pay 132 billion reais ($23 billion) over 20 years. The payments were meant to compensate for human, environmental and infrastructure damage.
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BHP had said the U.K. legal action was unnecessary because it duplicated matters covered by legal proceedings in Brazil.
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