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In an update on the Samarco project BHP Billiton said while a restart was important for Samarco, BHP Billiton Brasil, Vale and the local community, it would only occur if safe to do so and the necessary approvals were received from Brazilian authorities.
The Samarco operation has been closed since the tailings dam disaster in November 2015.
Samarco has submitted licensing applications to relevant authorities for the restart of operations, albeit at a reduced capacity.
The Samarco debt also needs to be restructured for the company to move forward.
Then there are several legal claims that need to be negotiated.
The Brazilian federal government launched a 20 billion real ($US6 billion) claim on November 30. Under that claim a 20 billion real community fund was to be set up. On March 2 Samarco, Vale and BHP Billiton Brasil entered into a 20 billion real framework agreement to settle that claim and final ratification of that is still pending.
On May 3 the Federal Prosecution Office of Brazil launched a 155 billion real ($US46 billion) claim against Samarco, BHP Billiton Brasil and Vale.
Then there are the criminal charges that have been lodged against BHP Billiton Brasil and certain employees and former employees of BHP Billiton Brasil.
BHP has rejected those charges and says it will “fully support” each of the affected individuals in their defence of the charges.
In light of the Samarco dam disaster BHP has undertaken major reviews of its tailings dams and shared the expert panel’s findings of the external investigation into the causes of the dam failure, including with the International Council of Mining and Metals.
The ICMM has since issued a position statement that commits its members to adopting key elements of tailings management and governance.
BHP has created a dam management function to bring additional expertise to the company and further draw on international science and engineering practice.
Responsibilities for non-operated minerals joint ventures under BHP Minerals Americas president operations Danny Malchuk.
