Australia’s largest miner, BHP, has been found liable to compensate victims devastated by the collapse of a tailings dam in Brazil in 2015 that killed 19 people, spewed millions of tonnes of waste into a major river system and left hundreds homeless.

Melbourne-based BHP has been locked in disputes for nearly a decade over its role in the catastrophic bursting of the Fundao tailings dam in 2015, considered to be Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster.

Homes lay in ruins in Bento Rodrigues, Minas Gerais, Brazil, after the Samarco dam burst on November 5, 2015. Credit: AP

The miner, which jointly owned the site through its 50:50 Samarco joint venture, has spent billions of dollars funding remediation and compensation, but has also been fighting large-scale court cases brought by

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