Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified giant BHP on Thursday confirmed that it had reached an agreement with the State Prosecutor of Mariana in Minas Gerais, in relation to compensation for the impact of the Samarco dam failure in 2015. However, the miner said that operations were unlikely to restart next year.
The miner told shareholders that the agreement outlined the process and principals for the negotiation and implementation of the Renova Foundation of the formal compensation programme for those people impacted in Mariana.
Reuters earlier reported that the deal allows for compensation payments to start to relatives of the 19 people killed in the disaster, as well as those who lost their houses and other properties.
No financial details of the deal were disclosed in the short statement made by prosecutors earlier this week, or by BHP.
“To date, the Renova Foundation has been providing compensation and support to many of the individuals in Mariana who have been imapcted by the dam failure,” BHP said on Thursday.
While BHP said that a restart of operations in 2019 was highly unlikely, Samarco has said that it expected to obtain the licences needed to resume operations next year.