Mining giants agree on compensation for victims of Mariana Dam collapse

FILE PHOTO: View from above of a dam owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd that burst in Mariana

WORLD

The Government of Brazil signs a 29.85 billion dollar compensation agreement with mining companies nine years on from a dam collapse which killed 19, left hundreds homeless, caused flooding spanning three States, wiped out entire communities and polluted a river for hundreds of kilometres all the way to the Atlantic ocean.

By James Blears

The 2015 collapse of the Mariana Dam near the City of the same name in the South Western State of Minas Gerais, was Brazil`s worst-ever environmental disaster. The iron ore mine beside it was owned by Samarco in a joint venture with Vale and BHP. It polluted the Doce River with torrents of toxic sludge and devastated a vast area, bringing death, destruction and misery.

At the sombre ceremony in the Presidential Palace in Brazilia, President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva demanded that the first instalment of 878 million dollars must be paid in the next thirty days. The remainder will be paid over the next twenty years. He caustically said: ''I hope the mining companies have learned their lesson. We`re fixing a disaster which could have been avoided but wasn`t.'' He also accused the mining companies of pursuing profit over safety.

Brazil`s Solicitor General, Jorge Messias, said the agreement will enable the compensation of families and fund environmental recovery. Samarco`s President Rodrigo Vilela said this was a watershed in the company`s history which they deeply regret.

In a separate case but on the same matter, 620,000 people have taken BHP to court in Britain, where it was headquartered at the time seeking 47 billion dollars in compensation. That trial started earlier this week.

Listen to the report by James Blears