A Brazilian court told pellets producer Samarco and its shareholders, Vale and BHP Billiton, that it has three days to present a plan to compensate the Mariana victims.
The Mariana disaster killed 19 people on November 2015 and halted activities at Samarco, a 50/50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton.
The court said all three parties have until May 22 to present criteria to properly compensate communities near the Baixo Gandu and Naque areas, which were affected by the deadline iron ore waste dam burst. The court had ordered Samarco to hire 18 consulting companies to set up a committee to compensate for the Mariana damages. A media report from G1 said Samarco hired only three companies.
The two communities managed to convince a judge that Vale, Samarco and BHP should compensate them individually, out of the scope of the 18 technical consulting companies chosen to set up the compensation committee.