Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Two international mining corporations have finalized a $30 billion settlement with the Brazilian government over a deadly dam collapse in 2015 that remains the worst environmental disaster in the country's history.
Brazil-based mining company Vale and Australian firm BHP signed the deal Friday during an event attended by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
The dam collapse killed 19 people and left hundreds of others homeless in Mariana, Brazil, a city of around 61,000 people in the eastern part of the country.
"I hope the mining companies have learned their lesson; it would have cost them less to prevent the disaster," Lula said Friday at the signing event.
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The tailing dam at the iron ore mine collapsed in November 2015, releasing thousands of tons of mud and mining waste into the environment.
The disaster significantly poisoned local waterways including the Doce River and nearby beaches.
The two companies initially claimed the collapse only released mud.
A report by the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances later found the accident led to more than 2 billion cubic feet of mining waste including deadly chemicals being released into the environment.
Around 600,000 people have filed civil proceedings against BHP in the Brazilian court system, seeking around $47 billion in compensation.
A separate lawsuit against Vale is before the court in the Netherlands, with approximately 70,000 complainants seeking compensation.
The company was also involved in a separate iron ore mine dam collapse in Brazil. In 2019, the dam at a mine in Belo Horizonte collapsed, ultimately killing 270 people and leaving hundreds more missing in the debris.
The company later agreed to pay more than $7 billion in damages to the Brazilian government.
Brazilian authorities at one point charged more than a dozen Vale executives with murder and environmental crimes in the wake of the disaster.
Prosecutors contended the company knew the dam in Brumadinho had been at risk of collapse since at least November 2017.
