Damning Verdict: BHP Found Liable for Dam Collapse in UK Lawsuit

21 November 2025

By Jack Grogan-Fenn

Australian mining giant BHP Group has been found responsible for the high-profile Fundão tailings dam collapse in Brazil in 2015 by London’s High Court and now must compensate victims impacted by the disaster.

BHP – which is the country's largest mining company – was ruled to liable for causing the tailings dam collapse in a civil lawsuit representing more than 600,000 people. The catastrophe caused the deaths of 19 people, made hundreds of local people homeless and was responsible for major pollution by releasing millions of tonnes of waste into a major river system causing long-term damage. The lawsuit had been valued as potentially being worth up to £36 billion (U$47 billion).

Key Client Takeaways:

BHP Found Liable for 2015 Dam Collapse

• London’s High Court ruled that BHP is responsible for the Fundão tailings dam disaster in Brazil, which killed 19 people, displaced hundreds, and caused severe environmental damage. The lawsuit could be worth up to £36 billion (US$47 billion).

“Foreseeable” Risk Underlined

• The court concluded that the dam’s collapse was “avoidable” and “foreseeable”, citing clear warning signs such as saturated tailings and structural issues and that continuing to raise the dam’s height despite these risks was “inconceivable”.

BHP Appeal and Future Trials

• BHP plans to appeal the ruling. If upheld, the case will proceed through a second trial - scheduled for October 2026 to March 2027 - to determine cause of the losses and potentially a third trial for individual damages, which is unlikely before 2028.

“The risk of collapse of the dam was foreseeable,” Judge Finola O'Farrell said in her case conclusions. “Against the obvious signs of contractive, saturated tailings and numerous incidents of seepage and cracking, it was imprudent to continue to raise the dam”. She added that it was “inconceivable that a decision would have been taken to continue raising the height of the dam in those circumstances and the collapse could have been averted.”

The English High Court’s ruling follows a five-month first stage trial on the UK group civil lawsuit action, with plaintiffs including local businesses, civilians and governments. BHP was deemed to be liable for the disaster on the basis that it is a ‘polluter’ under Brazilian environmental law and at fault under the Brazilian civil code. Any assessment of damages will be determined by future second and third stage trials, which would be expected to be completed in 2028 or 2029. Earlier this year, BHP Group and Vale had offered approximately U$1.4 billion to settle the class action lawsuit, which included around U$800 million in compensation for victims and U$600 million to cover legal costs associated with the High Court proceedings

The Fundão tailings dam in Mariana, southeastern Brazil, was owned by Samarco, an iron ore joint venture between the mining giants Vale and BHP. A separate claim against Samarco's second parent company, Brazilian mining company Vale, was filed in the Netherlands, with more than 70,000 plaintiffs.

In a statement responding to the ruling, BHP claimed that since 2015, its Brazilian arm, Vale and Samarco have provided U$13.4 billion for reparation and compensation to affected people and to Public Authorities in Brazil. “In total, compensation and financial aid has been paid to more than 610,000 people who have received approximately US$6.3 billion,” the statement read. “This includes approximately 240,000 claimants in the UK group action who have been compensated in Brazil and signed releases for related claims.” The mining giant also believes the UK group action is “duplicative of remediation and compensation that has already occurred in Brazil or which is available under the Brazil Agreement”.

BHP will appeal the decision continue to defend the UK group action. Subject to its appeal, a second stage trial will decide whether losses claimed by the claimants were caused by the dam failure. This trial is currently scheduled for October 2026 to March 2027. Following any decision and appeals in that trial, a stage three trial may also be required, where each remaining claimant would need to prove their individual damages before BHP is required to make any payments to them. This third trial is unlikely to occur before 2028.

Last year, a Brazilian federal judge had ordered mining giants BHP, Vale and their Samarco joint venture to pay U$9.7 billion in damages for the incident. In September, BHP said that it would pay A$110 million (U$70.8 million) to settle an Australian shareholder class action related to the deadly 2015 Fundão tailings dam collapse.

The Fundão tailings dam collapse in 2015 was followed by the similar Brumadinho dam disaster in January 2019, where a Vale-owned tailings dam at an iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic failure. However, its death toll of more than 270 is significantly higher than the Fundão tailings dam collapse. In 2021, Vale agreed to pay U$7 billion in compensation to those impacted by the Brumadinho dam collapse.

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