BHP, Vale Offer $1.4B Settlement in Lawsuit Over Brazil Dam Disaster

Global miners BHP Group and Vale have offered around $1.4 billion to settle a class action lawsuit in the United Kingdom tied to one of Brazil’s worst-ever environmental disasters, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The lawsuit stems from the collapse in 2015 of the Mariana dam in southeastern Brazil, owned and operated by the Samarco joint venture of BHP and Vale. The disaster prompted legal action from hundreds of thousands of people.

BHP is currently facing a London lawsuit that claimants’ lawyers have valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48.29 billion).

The proposed settlement includes around $800 million in compensation for victims and $600 million to cover legal costs associated with the High Court proceedings, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The offer was reportedly made during a June meeting in New York with Pogust Goodhead, the British law firm representing the claimants, and their primary financial backer, U.S. hedge fund Gramercy, the report said.

BHP and Vale did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

In October last year, BHP described allegations that a focus on profit over safety contributed to the disaster as “far-fetched and unjustified.”

($1 = 0.7454 pounds)

(Reporting by Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)