London Judge Finds Global Mining Giant BHP Group Responsible For Brazil’s Worst Environmental Disaster

A London judge ruled on Friday that global mining giant BHP Group is responsible for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, which happened ten years ago when a dam collapsed and released tons of toxic

waste into a major river, killing 19 people and destroying villages downstream.

High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said BHP, based in Australia, was responsible even though it did not own the dam at the time. BHP owns half of Samarco, the Brazilian company that runs the iron ore mine where the dam broke on November 5, 2015. Enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools poured into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The sludge destroyed the busy village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state and badly damaged other towns. The disaster also killed 14 tons of freshwater fish and harmed 600 kilometers (370 miles) of the Doce River, according to a study by the University of Ulster in the UK.

The river, which is sacred to the Krenak Indigenous people, still has not recovered. About 600,000 Brazilians are seeking 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in compensation, but the ruling only decided who was responsible. The next part of the trial will decide how much damages should be paid. The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s main legal entities was based in London at the time.

The trial started in October 2024, just days before Brazil’s federal government reached a multibillion-dollar settlement with the mining companies. Under the agreement, Samarco, which is also half owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, agreed to pay 132 billion reais ($23 billion) over 20 years. The payments are meant to cover human, environmental, and infrastructure damage. BHP said the UK legal action was not needed because it repeated issues already covered by legal cases in Brazil.