- Write by:
-
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - 7:42:32 PM
-
312 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - More than 200 000 Brazilian people and groups will next week kick off a five-billion-pound lawsuit against Anglo-Australian miner BHP in Britain over a 2015 dam failure that led to Brazil`s worst environmental disaster.
The group claim, one of the largest in British legal history, has been brought on behalf of Brazilian individuals, businesses, churches, organisations, municipalities and indigenous people and will open in Manchester on July 22.
An initial, eight-day hearing will establish whether the case can be heard in Britain, although the judge is expected to reserve judgment until later in the year. If successful, further trials are expected to determine liability and quantify damages.
BHP spokesman Neil Burrows said the claim did not belong in Britain because it duplicated proceedings in Brazil and the ongoing work of the Renova Foundation, an entity created by the miner and its partners to manage reparations and repairs.
The collapse of the Fundao tailings dam, which stored mining waste and is owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining company Vale, killed 19 and spilled roughly 40-million cubic metres of toxic sludge into communities, the Rio Doce river and Atlantic Ocean 650 km away.
Claimants allege BHP, the world`s largest miner by market value, ignored safety warnings as the dam`s capacity was repeatedly increased by raising its height - and disregarded cracks that pointed to early signs of rupture.
"The public companies at the top of the BHP group structure, which we firmly believe bear ultimate responsibility for the disaster, have until now been insulated from its consequences within the Brazilian legal system," said Tom Goodhead, a partner at law firm PGMBM, which represents the claimants.
Goodhead said Brazilian environmental law had a long reach and imposed strict liability for environmental damage.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/567170
Copper traded near $10,000 a ton, hitting a new two-year high on its way, as investors continue to pile in on a bet that ...
Adriatic Metals is taking over as the operator of the Rupice deposit development, which is part of the company’s Vares ...
A prefeasibility study for Predictive Discovery’s (ASX: PDI) Bankan gold project in Guinea gives it a net present value ...
Iron ore futures prices drifted higher on Thursday as the latest soft data from top consumer China triggered renewed ...
Rio Tinto said on Wednesday it is teaming up with a global venture studio and start-up investor to back the development ...
Outflows from global physically backed gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) continued for a 10th month in March, but at a ...
Australia’s Fortescue said on Monday it would form a joint venture with OCP Group to supply green hydrogen, ammonia and ...
BMO Bank quietly dropped its policy restricting lending to the coal industry in late 2023, helping it avoid being ...
Mining News Pro - The ceremony of commemorating the tree planting day and the beginning of the afforestation project and ...
No comments have been posted yet ...