BHP Executive Handling Brazil Dam Disaster Fallout to Leave

SYDNEY—BHP Billiton Ltd. said Chief Commercial Officer Dean Dalla Valle, who was earlier this year tasked with leading the miner's response to a deadly dam failure in Brazil, will leave the company.

Mr. Dalla Valle, who has worked for the mining giant for roughly four decades, will step down at the end of March, the company said on Thursday.

The former marketing and coal business chief relocated to Brazil amid a management reshuffle, announced in February, to handle the fallout from the catastrophic Nov. 5 dam collapse at Samarco Mineraç ã o SA, a joint venture with Vale SA.

The disaster killed 19 people and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers. Recently, Brazilian federal prosecutors filed homicide charges against 21 people in connection with the event. Former and current BHP executives were among those charged, but not Mr. Dalla Valle.

Last week, BHP Chairman Jac Nasser also said he would step down in 2017, with the former CEO of Ford Motor Co. saying he had planned to announce his retirement last year but decided to stay due to the tailings dam disaster.

Mr. Nasser said "the basic structure of the Samarco response" is now in place.

On Thursday, BHP said it would "centralize the management of Samarco alongside the group's other major minerals non-operated joint ventures in the Minerals Americas portfolio."

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT)

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