Reimbursements will take longer to reach victims of a mining infrastructure disaster.
Authorities recently refused their share in a US$25.7 billion (A$39B) offer in the aftermath of the 2015 Samarco dam collapse.
Brazil’s federal government, states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo and relevant municipalities could have received a combined R$72B (A$21.3B) cash payment over more than a decade. However, they rejected the bid from BHP, Vale and their Samarco joint venture because it failed to reflect the latest negotiations.
“[The offer] does not represent progress in relation to the previous proposal, presented and discussed in December 2023 … [because it contains] inadmissible conditions [that disregard what had] already been exhaustively debated and agreed,” a government spokesperson said in a public statement.
“The increase in value presented remains very far from the value proposed by the public authorities at the end of 2023, as the renegotiation does not interest the amounts allegedly already spent by the Renova Foundation or the amount that companies they estimate spending on the obligations to do that they will remain responsible.”
The remarks came just days after the resources giants proposed giving R$37B (A$11B) in remediation and compensation as well as R$18B (A$6B) in obligations performed by both Samarco and the Renova Foundation.
BHP Brasil also promised to spend US$6.5B (A$9.8B) on assessing the estimated cost of resolving all aspects of the Federal Public Prospection Office claim and the framework agreement obligations.
About 430,000 affected residents have already been paid indemnities and emergency financial assistance. About 85 per cent of resettlement cases for communities impacted by the dam failure were complete at the time of publication.
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