Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining giant BHP and its joint venture partner Vale have reached an agreement with the Brazilian government to extinguish a 20-billion reais ($5.3-billion) lawsuit relating to the 2015 dam failure at the Samarco operation, which claimed 19 lives.
The agreement allows the mining companies more time to settle a larger 155-billion reais ($41.5-billion) civil claim, brought by Brazil’s federal prosecutors in May 2016, seeking social, environmental and economic compensation for the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster.
The governance agreement between Samarco, BHP, Vale, the federal government and the states of Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais, announced on Monday, provides for the suspension of the 155-billion reais claim for two years.
During this period, the parties have agreed to design a single process for the renegotiation of the March 2016 framework agreement and to progress the settlement of the civil claim.
The agreement recommends improvements in governance for the Renova Foundation, which was established to undertake environmental and socioeconomic programmes to provide compensation for damages caused by the dam failure.
The parties have also agreed to enhanced community participation in decisions relating to the 42 remediation and compensation programmes that were developed following the dam failure, which destroyed several communities.
Despite the agreement, Samarco operation’s fate remains uncertain, as it requires two permits to resume operations.
Operations were suspended in November 2015, after the collapse of the iron-ore tailings dam.