Brazil seals $30 billion compensation deal with BHP, Vale over 2015 dam collapse
Tailings dam collapse killed 19, polluted river in 2015
100 billion reais to be paid to authorities within 20 years
President Lula attends signing of agreement
BHP says outflows align with its previous provisions
Adds Vale provisions in paragraph 10 and remarks from Vale executive in paragraph 13
By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA, Oct 25 (Reuters) -Brazil on Friday signed a 170 billion reais ($29.85 billion) compensation agreement with miners BHP BHP.AX, Vale VALE3.SA and Samarco for the Mariana dam collapse in 2015, one of the country's worst environmental disasters.
The collapse of the dam at the iron ore mine owned by Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, near the city of Mariana in southeastern Brazil, unleashed a wave of tailings in a disaster that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended a ceremony in Brasilia to mark the signing of the agreement, with the government saying the first instalmentof 5 billion reais must be paid within 30 days.
The agreement provides for the payment of 132 billion reais, of which 100 billion reais represent "new resources" that must be paid to the public authorities within 20 years by the companies involved in the tragedy.
They will allocate the other 32 billion reais to pay for compensation for affected people and reparation actions that will remain under their responsibility, in addition to the 38 billion reais that the miners say they have disbursed.
The government's solicitor general, Jorge Messias, said the resources provided in the agreement will allow local authorities to repair the financial losses of families hit by the tragedy and pay for environmental recovery actions in affected areas in the states of Minas Gerais, where the dam is located, and Espirito Santo through which the Doce River flows to the sea.
The annual payments will be scheduled until 2043, with values varying between 7 billion reais in 2026 and 4.41 billion reais in the last instalment.
"These resources will allow us to provide justice in reparation to the families directly affected and their impact will be felt over several areas, not only in the recovery of the environment, but in the resumption of economic activities, health and infrastructure," Messias said.
BHP in a statement said it expected outflows under the agreement to align with its full-year 2024 Samarco provision of $6.5 billion and no update was required to the existing provision at this time.
On Thursday, Vale earmarkednearly $1 billion more for its Samarco provisions, bringing the total planned expense to $4.7 billion.
Friday's agreement could end more than a hundred lawsuits against the mining companies in the South American country and possibly limit legal action abroad, three sources close to the matter said this week.
BHP is contesting liability in a lawsuit worth up to 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in London's High Court over its responsibility for the Mariana disaster.
The world's biggest miner by market value says the London lawsuit duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programs in Brazil and should be thrown out.
That lawsuit had argued that the issue was not being solved in Brazil, Vale's vice-president for corporate and external affairs, Alexandre D'Ambrosio, said on a call on Friday. That argument no longer holds up, he added, as the compensation deal has been inked.
($1 = 5.6793 reais)
($1 = 0.7709 pounds)
Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia, Yadarisa Shabong and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Anthony Boadle and Andre Romani; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Marguerita Choy
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
