The UK Court of Appeal has ruled BHP cannot challenge a decision holding it liable for a deadly dam collapse in Brazil more than a decade ago.
Nineteen people were killed when a tailings dam attached to an iron mine in Mariana collapsed, smothering whole villages in toxic sludge and poisoning the Doce River in what is Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.
The mine was owned and operated by Samarco – a joint venture between BHP and Brazil’s Vale.
The British High Court last year ruled that the Australian mining giant was responsible for the collapse under Brazilian law.
The Court of Appeal overnight ruled it did “not accept that any of the grounds relating to BHP’s liability for the dam breach are reasonably defensible” and found “no basis” to BHP’s claim that the trial judge failed to properly consider the case.
