Mining firm in court over fatal dam collapse in Brazil

The Anglo-Australian mining company BHP has been accused of "cynically and doggedly trying to avoid" responsibility for Brazil's worst environmental disaster, at the opening of the largest group lawsuit in English legal history.

- Daniel Boffey

The claim for up to £36bn in compensation was opened by lawyers acting for more than 620,000 individuals at the high court in London. It comes nine years after the breach of a dam holding toxic waste from an iron ore mine killed 19 people near the town of Mariana in Brazil.

In his opening submission, Alain Choo Choy KC, for the claimants, suggested that the "profound shortcomings" of the reparations process in Brazil had led the case to be opened in England. He accused BHP of devoting "very substantial resources to placing obstacles in the way of the claimants' English claims".

A "chasm" had emerged between the level of compensation that BHP regarded as "acceptable" for the disaster and the amount the victims were "morally and legally" entitled to, the court heard.