Almost a decade on from the Samarco dam disaster in Brazil, BHP will face lawyers behind a class action lawsuit that has estimated the compensation claim at a record £36 billion.
The world’s biggest mining group will start its defence on Monday against a claim being brought in the High Court in London that alleges it is liable for the failure of the dam in the state of Minas Gerais in 2015 that killed 19 people and caused one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazil’s history.
The collapse of the Fundão “tailings” or mining waste dam at the Samarco iron ore joint venture of BHP and Vale in the southeast of Brazil unleashed 40 million cubic metres of toxic waste, destroying villages and polluting