BHP, Vale reach deal to cover 2015 Brazil dam collapse proceedings in U.K.

BHP (NYSE:BHP) +1.9% in Friday’s trading after saying it reached an agreement on compensation payments with Vale (VALE) to equally split the cost of any damages related to proceedings in the U.K. over the failure of Brazil’s Samarco tailings dam that killed 19 people.

Under the agreement, both companies said they will pay 50% of any potential amounts due to the claimants in Britain, the Netherlands and other proceedings in Brazil, without admitting liability.

The tailings dam was operated by the 50-50 Samarco joint venture of BHP (BHP) and Vale (VALE).

BHP (BHP) is a defendant to a group action claim in the English High Court, brought by more than 600K claimants seeking damages linked to the dam failure, but said it does not consider that it is liable to the claimants in the English proceedings and will continue to defend itself.

A new claim was filed in March against Vale (VALE) and the Dutch subsidiary of Samarco in the Netherlands on behalf of 78K Brazilian claimants for compensation for the dam disaster; BHP (BHP) said it is not a defendant in the Netherlands proceedings.