Brazil mine disaster trial ends with plaintiffs hopeful of justice March 13, 2025
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Mar 12
- 3 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Brazil mine disaster trial ends with plaintiffs hopeful of justice
By Olivier Devos
The trial to determine whether Australian mining giant BHP is responsible for one of Brazil's worst environmental disasters ends in London on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of victims demanding billions in compensation.
The dam collapse in 2015 killed 19 people and released a deluge of thick toxic mud into villages, fields, rainforests, rivers, and the ocean.
The Fundão tailings dam, at an iron ore mine in the mountains of Minas Gerais state, was run by Samarco, jointly owned by BHP and Brazilian mining company Vale.
The hearing at the High Court in London, which began in October, heard evidence on behalf of BHP and hundreds of thousands of claimants in relation to the dam collapse, which could trigger a payout of billions of pounds (dollars).
At the time of the disaster, BHP had global headquarters in Britain and Australia.
If the court decides later this year that BHP is responsible, a new trial will be held to determine the amount of compensation.
“I expect (a trial) at the end of the second quarter, perhaps in June or July of this year,” Tom Goodhead, of the law firm Pogust Goodhead, which filed the lawsuit, told AFP on Thursday.
“And then there's another trial... which has been scheduled for October 2026, in case it's necessary to prove the damages that people have suffered.”
Goodhead added that, for the victims, “responsibility” was even more important than “money”.
In a separate case in Brazil, Vale and BHP offered to pay around $30 billion in compensation.
This figure was increased from almost US$ 25 billion at the start of the trial in London.
“We respect the London process,” said Fernanda Lavarello, head of corporate affairs at BHP Brasil, on Thursday.
“We continue to defend ourselves here (in London), but we think Brazil is the right place for us to deal with all these outstanding issues,” she told AFP.
More than 620,000 claimants - including 46 local authorities, companies, and Brazilian indigenous peoples - are seeking an estimated £36 billion (US$47 billion) in compensation in the civil trial.
BHP, while acknowledging that a “tragedy” has occurred, argues that it cannot be considered the “direct polluter” because the dam was managed by Samarco.
The collapse of the dam in the town of Mariana released almost 45 million cubic meters (1,590 million cubic feet) of highly toxic mining waste sludge, flooding 39 towns and leaving more than 600 people homeless.
“I'm here seeking justice,” Pamela Fernandes, who lost her five-year-old daughter Manu in the tragedy, told AFP outside the courthouse on Thursday.
“I will feel relieved when I know that the company will pay for what it has done.”
BHP and Vale estimate that more than 430,000 claimants have already received compensation, including more than 200,000 parties in the London case.
The mayor of Mariana, Juliano Duarte, was present on the last day of the hearing.
“Today we came to accompany the final part of the trial... seeking justice for the city of Mariana since it was the city most affected by the dam collapse,” he said.
“We hope for better justice in London, to receive amounts that are consistent with the scale of the tragedy.”
BHP noted that the Renova Foundation, which manages compensation and rehabilitation programs, has already paid out more than US$7.9 billion in emergency aid.
The Australian mining giant also said that water quality in the river system contaminated by the fallout has returned to pre-disaster levels.
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