Australian mining company BHP Billiton has announced that it has approved a total of $250 million in financial support for the Renova Foundation, set up to repair, restore and rebuild communities impacted by the collapse of its Brazilian pellet producer joint venture Samarco’s Fundão dam in 2015, and also for Samarco in the period up to December 31.
BHP stated that the amount of $174 million will be used to fund the Renova Foundation for remediation and compensation programs identified under the framework agreement signed between Samarco and its shareholders, Brazilian miner Vale and BHP’s subsidiary BHP Billiton Brasil and the Federal Prosecutors’ Office in Brazil (Federal Prosecutors) in relation to the Samarco dam failure.
Meanwhile, a short-term facility of up to $76 million will be made available to Samarco to carry out remediation and stabilization work and to support its operations. Funds will be released to Samarco only as required, and subject to achievement of key milestones.
Regarding the restart of operations at Samarco, BHP stated that the restart is subject to obtaining separate regulatory approvals and will occur only if safe, economically viable, and if it has the support of the community. Resuming operations would also require government approvals, the granting of licenses by state authorities and the restructuring of Samarco’s debt. Accordingly, operations at Samarco are unlikely to restart in the current financial year.