BHP settles Australian Samarco shareholder class action

(Sharecast News) - Mining giant BHP said on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to settle the Australian Samarco shareholder class action, subject to approval by the Federal Court of Australia. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, BHP has agreed to pay the applicants AUD $110m (£53.56m), inclusive of interests and costs, with no admission of liability. BHP expects to recover the majority of the settlement amount from its insurers.

BHP said the Australian shareholder class action was brought on behalf of shareholders who acquired BHP shares before the Fundão Dam failure and was filed in the Federal Court of Australia in 2018.

The Fundão Dam was owned and operated by Samarco Mineração, a non-operated joint venture between BHP Billiton Brasil, a subsidiary of BHP Group and Vale, each of which holds a 50% stake in Samarco.

The settlement comes almost ten years after the Samarco dam disaster, which occurred on 5 November 2015, when the Fundão tailings dam at the Germano iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic failure, resulting in flooding that devastated the downstream villages of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo, killing 19 people. The extent of the damage caused by the tailings dam collapse was the largest ever recorded, with pollutants spread along 668 kilometres of watercourses.

As of 0805 BST, BHP shares were down 0.30% at 1,992.50p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com