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Mining group BHP has been ordered to hand over historic employment details for staff including its chief executive Mike Henry as part of a legal battle over one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters.
The High Court in London on Thursday told the company to disclose “key performance indicators” and evaluations for several executives, among other documents, following a disclosure application on behalf of some 700,000 claimants affected by the collapse of a dam in 2015 that killed 19 people and caused widespread environmental damage.
Lawyers acting for the Brazilian claimants, which include municipalities and indigenous communities as well as individuals, hope the documents will bolster their case that BHP managers were incentivised to push for cost cuts that contributed to the disaster. They are seeking £36bn in compensation.
BHP said the disclosure applications were “part of the usual procedure in these types of proceedings and do not reflect on the merits of the case”.
It added it would continue to defend the UK action and “denies the claims in their entirety”.
The claimants’ application was only partially successful, with Mrs Justice Finola O’Farrell denying a request for details of interviews with individuals conducted during an investigation of the disaster.
The disclosure order is the latest development in London’s largest ever class-action lawsuit, launched after a structure that held mining waste near the town of Mariana in Minas Gerais state collapsed.
It unleashed an avalanche of mud that devastated surrounding villages and contaminated hundreds of kilometres of waterways.
The documents sought by the claimants in regard to Henry relate to the period before he became chief executive in 2020. He was chief marketing officer between 2011 and 2013, and between 2013 and 2015 he was president of health, safety and environment, marketing and technology.
Among the seven other individuals covered by the disclosure order on BHP were Brett Swayn, former vice-president of health, safety, environment and community for iron ore, and Natie Victor, a former risk manager at the company.
The mining project where the tailings dam collapsed was owned and operated by Samarco, a Brazilian company jointly owned by BHP and Vale. BHP has requested Vale also be found liable for any resulting damages in the London case.
Tom Goodhead, chief executive of law firm Pogust Goodhead, which is representing the claimants, said key performance indicators and other employment details for top BHP staff, including Henry, were “relevant to our case”.
He added: “It appears that BHP-affiliated individuals may have been incentivised in relation to Samarco production and operation — including incentives to cut costs.”
Nicholas Sloboda KC, representing BHP, said of some of the details being sought: “Going back and finding these historic agreements is not easy. It is time-consuming.”
He added that some of the information sought by the claimants contained “personal and irrelevant data”.
However, Justice O’Farrell said: “There are clear pleaded issues as to the knowledge and conduct of those individuals. The court will have to grapple with those pleaded issues.”
A High Court trial has been scheduled for October, which will deal with certain aspects of alleged liability. If liability is established, a hearing to determine the size of possible damages could take place as early as October 2026, the judge ruled on Thursday.
The litigation in London is one front in a global legal battle stemming from the disaster. Earlier this year, Samarco, Vale and BHP were ordered by a Brazilian court to pay R$47.6bn in compensation for the dam collapse. Both companies have said they would consider appealing.
Under an initial deal with Brazilian authorities, BHP and Vale agreed to fund the Renova Foundation, a non-profit organisation set up to provide compensation to affected communities. It has distributed about R$35.5bn (US$7bn). More than 430,000 people have received payments, including over 200,000 claimants in the UK case, BHP said.
