A Brazilian court acquitted mining giants Vale and BHP as well as the Samarco company on Thursday, November 14, in a judgment on the failure of a dam which left 19 dead and caused the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history in 2015.
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On November 5, 2015, the rupture of the Fundao mining dam near the town of Mariana, in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), led to a gigantic mudslide of toxic waste which spread over 650 kilometers along the Rio Doce River, to the Atlantic Ocean.
The dam was operated by Samarco, a company including the Australian group BHP and the Brazilian company Vale were co-owners.
“ The documents, reports and testimonies heard for the clarification of the facts do not show that individual behavior contributed directly and decisively to the collapse of the dam. », We can read in the judgment obtained by AFP.
Ecological disaster
This decision by a federal court in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, was taken while a giant trial is being held in London to determine BHP’s liability in this same catastrophe.
The amount of damages claimed from the Australian company in this civil trial is estimated at 36 billion pounds (43 billion euros). At the end of October, the Brazilian authorities concluded a new compensation agreement with Vale and BHP of 30 billion dollars (around 27.5 billion euros), after more than three years of negotiations.
The ecological disaster resulted in the deaths of 19 people, deprived more than 600 people of their homes, killed thousands of animals and devastated areas of protected tropical forest.
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