BHP, Vale sign $32B final settlement in Brazil dam disaster

BHP (NYSE:BHP) and partner Vale (VALE) said Friday they reached a final settlement with Brazilian authorities valued at 170B reais (~$31.7B) for a 2015 mining disaster at the companies Samarco iron ore joint venture.

BHP (BHP) said the agreement includes 100B reais (~$18B) in new compensation to be paid over two decades to the Brazil government, the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, and affected municipalities, as well as 38B reais (~$7.9B) already spent for remediation and compensation since 2016 and 32B reais (~$5.8B) for obligations including initiatives for resettlement and environmental recovery for the disaster.

The agreement comes nearly nine years after Samarco’s Fundao tailings dam collapsed, unleashing a torrent of waste that killed 19 people and contaminated waterways in Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo states.

The agreement removes an important legal overhang for the companies, although BHP (BHP) still faces a parallel class action lawsuit in the U.K. tied to the disaster that involves as many as 620K people; the miner hopes that resolving the case in Brazil will help weaken the case in the British court.

BHP (BHP) +0.6% and Vale (VALE) +3.7% after trading was halted briefly.