BHP confirms class action over Samarco dam disaster
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major BHP on Monday said that it would defend itself against a class action filed in the Federal Court of Australia, in Victoria, relating to the Samarco dam failure.
While the miner did not reveal any details regarding the class action proceedings, media reports on Monday said that some 3 000 investors had signed up to participate in a class action against the diversified major, alleging that the company breached disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
The claim alleges that a number of issues were encountered at the tailings dam in Brazil in the years before the dam failure in 2015, and that spending on safety and maintenance at the tailings dam had declined between 2012 and the time of the dam’s failure.
BHP last week warned shareholders of a $650-million financial impact relating to the Samarco dam failure, which claimed 19 lives.
BHP, its joint venture partner Vale and the federal government of Brazil, as well as the states of Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais, and the Public Prosecutors in June agreed to an arrangement to settle a 20-billion real civil claim, enhance community participation in decisions related to the remediation and compensation programmes, and to establish a process to renegotiate and progress the settlement of a 155-billion real civil claim.
BHP also announced a further $211-million financial support for the Renova Foundation and Samarco, until the end of December, which consisted of $158-million to the foundation, that will be offset against the group’s provision for the Samarco dam failure, as well as a short-term loan facility of up to $53-million to be made available to Samarco.
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