A dam collapse in 2015 unleashed tonnes of toxic waste into a major river, killing 19 and devastating villages downstream.
Published On 14 Nov 2025
A judge in the United Kingdom has ruled that global mining giant BHP Group is liable in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, in a lawsuit the claimants’ lawyers previously valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48bn).
High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said on Friday that Australia-based BHP was responsible despite not owning the dam at the time.
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A dam collapse 10 years ago unleashed tonnes of toxic waste into a major river, killing 19 people and devastating villages downstream.
Anglo-Australian BHP owns 50 percent of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where the tailings dam ruptured on November 5, 2015. Enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools poured into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil.
Sludge from the burst dam destroyed the once-bustling village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, badly damaged other towns, left thousands homeless and flooded forests.
The disaster also killed 14 tonnes of freshwater fish and polluted 600km (370 miles) of the Doce Rive