BHP Says New Claimants Added to Fundao Dam Collapse's English Proceedings; Denies Claims

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

BHP Group Ltd. and BHP Group (UK) Ltd. said late Wednesday that a further claim was filed to add around 500,000 new claimants in connection with English proceedings regarding the Fundao Dam collapse in 2015, and that it denied the claims in their entirety.

The London-listed miner said full details of the claims haven't been received and that the amount of damages sought in the English Proceedings remained unspecified.

Both BHP Group and BHP Group (UK) are defendants to a group action claim which seeks damages for alleged losses caused by the Fundao Dam collapse. The Fundao Dam was owned and operated by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP's subsidiary BHP Billiton Brasil Ltda. and Vale SA.

The company said its provision related to the Samarco dam failure was $3.12 billion as at Dec. 31, 2022, and that due to the status of the English Proceedings it wasn't possible to provide a range of possible outcomes. A reliable estimate of potential future exposures in connection with the proceedings was also an impossibility, the company said.

"BHP will continue to defend the English Proceedings, which it believes are unnecessary because they duplicate matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and legal proceedings in Brazil," it said.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 15, 2023 13:34 ET (17:34 GMT)

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