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.
High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said Australia-based BHP was responsible despite not owning the dam at the time.
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.
Sludge from the burst dam destroyed the once-bustling village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state and badly damaged other towns.
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.
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.
The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time.
The trial began in October 2024, just days before Brazil’s federal government reached a multibillion-dollar settlement with the mining companies.
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.
BHP had said the U.K. legal action was unnecessary because it duplicated matters covered by legal proceedings in Brazil.
