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 Australian Company BHP Found Liable for Damages in One of Brazil’s Worst Mining Disasters

Inside Climate News · By Blanca Begert · last updated
A High Court in the United Kingdom has ruled that BHP was responsible for the Mariana dam collapse, after the company was acquitted of criminal charges last year in a Brazilian court. Claimants are seeking up to $47 billion in damages.

By Blanca Begert

In 2015, a mine tailings dam failed near the town of Bento Rodrigues, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The collapse spilled about 40 million cubic meters of iron ore mining waste into the landscape, burying villages under mud, killing 19 people and polluting thousands of streams along the River Doce.