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BHP must stop moneying legal action to halt Mariana dam claim, court guidelines

BHP Group must stop funding legal action looking for to stop some Brazilian municipalities from bringing a multibillion pound claim over among Brazil's worst ecological catastrophes, London's High Court ruled on Tuesday.

More than 720,000 Brazilians, consisting of around 50 towns, are taking legal action against BHP over the 2015 collapse of the Mariana dam, which was owned and operated by its Samarco joint venture with Brazilian iron ore miner Vale.

The dam collapse caused a wave of harmful tailings that killed 19 individuals, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests and polluted the whole length of the Doce River.

The plaintiffs in June filed an injunction against BHP after Brazilian Mining Association IBRAM submitted a motion in Brazil's. Supreme Court seeking to stop the towns from continuing. the London case on the premises that doing so represented a. threat to Brazil's sovereignty.

BHP, the world's biggest miner by market price, is a member. of IBRAM and funded it to make the claim at the Supreme Court.

BHP, which has accepted the order, did not immediately. respond to a request for comment.

BHP earlier this month reached a handle Vale to split. similarly the expense of any damages connected to proceedings in. Britain, for which it will continue to be the offender.

In March, a new claim was filed against Vale and the Dutch. subsidiary of Samarco in the Netherlands in which BHP is not a. defendant.

The London claim is separate from lawsuits in Brazil,. which primarily attends to claims from city governments and not. individuals.

The suit, one of the biggest in English legal history,. began in 2018. The very first trial of essential legal issues is due to. start in October.

Vale, BHP and Samarco in June presented Brazilian. authorities with a $26.09 billion offer to settle reparations. for the dam collapse after Brazil turned down a previous deal.

BHP, which denies liability, has actually referred to reparation and. settlement programmes carried out by the Renova Structure, a. redress scheme established in 2016 by Samarco and its. shareholders, which has actually funded more than $6 billion of rehousing. and rehabilitation for those affected by the catastrophe.

(source: Reuters)