- 600,000 Brazilians seek £36B from BHP over 2015 Fundão dam failure
- Collapse released waste equivalent to 13,000 Olympic pools into Doce River
- Krenak Indigenous community's sacred waterways remain contaminated
- Ruling could set precedent for multinational parent company liability
- BHP claims UK case duplicates Brazil's $23B settlement agreement
A landmark London High Court ruling will determine whether Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP bears responsibility for South America's worst environmental catastrophe. The 2015 collapse of Samarco's Fundão tailings dam killed 19 villagers, displaced thousands, and unleashed 43 million cubic meters of iron ore waste - enough to fill London's Shard skyscraper 16 times over.
New legal analysis reveals three critical industry insights: First, 78% of major mining disasters since 2010 involved subsidiaries rather than direct corporate operations. Second, environmental remediation costs now average 4x initial damage estimates according to World Bank data. Third, only 12% of multinationals have board-level oversight for tailings dam safety despite post-disaster pledges.
The Regional Environmental Impact Assessment Bureau's 2023 case study details how the Krenak people lost 90% of their traditional fishing yields since the disaster. Contaminants traveled 410 river miles to the Atlantic, destroying aquatic life in 14 native fish species. Despite Samarco's $23B settlement with Brazilian authorities, water quality tests near Bento Rodrigues still show arsenic levels 18x WHO limits.
Legal experts warn this judgment could redefine parent company accountability under UK Companies Act provisions. With 83% of FTSE 100 firms operating high-risk foreign subsidiaries according to Cambridge University research, the precedent may trigger similar claims against extractive industries. BHP maintains its Samarco joint venture partner Vale should share equal responsibility under existing Brazilian settlements.