Brazil’s public ministry (MPF), a body of public prosecutors, has filed a BRL 155 billion ($43.8 billion) public lawsuit against pellets producer Samarco and the company’s co-owners, Vale and BHP Billiton, for the Mariana iron ore waste dam burst, which killed 19 people in the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais, in November 2015.
Prosecutors have also sued Brazil’s federal government, and the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo in the lawsuit, which is asking the referred companies and governments to fully compensate the social, economic and environmental damages the iron ore waste dam bust has caused.
MPF’s BRL 155 billion estimate was based on the cost of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the United States. MPF said the damages caused by the Mariana disaster is “equivalent to that of [Deepwater Horizon] in the Mexican gulf in 2010.”
MPF has also demanded an initial payment of BRL 7.7 billion, which is yet to be accepted by a judge.
MPF’s move follows a recent deal reached by Samarco and the Brazilian government, in which the companies agreed to pay about BRL 20 billion.
MPF’s lawsuit adds more pressure to the struggling company, whose restart has been seen as uncertain, despite a Q4 estimate.