Vale, BHP make new offer on Mariana disaster reparations

12th June 2024 By: Reuters

Vale, BHP make new offer on Mariana disaster reparations

The Beno Rodigues district was covered in mud after the Samarco dam burst in Mariana in 2015.

SAO PAULO - Mining giants Vale and BHP and their joint venture Samarco have presented Brazilian authorities with a new offer to settle reparations over the 2015 Mariana disaster, Vale said in a securities filing on Wednesday.

The new proposal totals 140-billion reais ($26.09-billion), including 37-billion reais already disbursed in reparation measures, Vale said, confirming an earlier report from local newspaper O Globo.

The fresh offer is 13-billion reais higher than a previous one rejected by the Brazilian government.

It comes as authorities last week said they had presented the firms with a counteroffer seeking 109-billion reais, not including the amount already spent by the miners.

The collapse of a tailings dam at a Samarco iron ore mine near Mariana in Minas Gerais state in November 2015 created a vast flow of mud and mining waste that buried a nearby village, killing 19 people, leaving hundreds homeless and polluting the Doce River.