Brazilians hit by fatal dam disaster to protest at BHP Billiton AGM
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Version 0 of 1. Brazilians affected by the collapse of BHP Billiton’s Samarco dam are to stage a protest almost a year on from the fatal disaster at the company’s annual meeting in London. The world’s largest mining firm will be presented on Thursday with a list of demands from representatives of the local community in Minas Gerais region, as well as from people affected by projects in Colombia and Indonesia. The Fundao dam owned by Samarco – a joint venture between BHP and the Brazilian firm Vale – collapsed on 5 November last year, releasing a deluge of mining waste that left at least 19 people dead, 700 others homeless, rivers polluted and homes destroyed. Protesters, including a Franciscan monk and a farmer from Minas Gerais, will stage a re-enactment of the disaster before presenting a list of demands calling on BHP to do more to make up for the damage. The demands include a call for BHP to expand its compensation scheme to cover families who were not originally included but were directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. Campaigners also want BHP to acknowledge responsibility for a miscarriage that would increase the death toll to 20. “Currently, the company decides who is and who is not affected, while denying the indirect costs of the disaster,” said the London Mining Network, one of the campaign groups organising the protest. Protesters are to gather outside the firm’s annual meeting at the QEII conference centre in London and will call on BHP to remove mud from the river Doce and cancel its plans to build another dam in the same area. They will also denounce the Renova Foundation, which was set up by Vale and BHP to co-ordinate damage repair. Protesters say the foundation lacks legitimacy because it does not involve local communities enough. “We have seen whole communities destroyed by BHP Billiton and Vale’s operations,” said Fra Rodrigo de Castro Amédée Péret. “They have lost everything without receiving any real compensation.” The protest will also include representatives of communities complaining about the impact of mining projects in Colombia and Indonesia. People who live near Colombia’s Cerrejón mine – which provides large amounts of the coal burned in the UK – say their lives have been blighted by noise and air pollution, as well as forced evictions and diversion of local water supplies. Colombian activist Luz Ángela Uriana Epiayú said: “I remember Cerrejón [owed by BHP Billiton] came to La Guajira promising the world, but they never actually sat down and spoke to us. “Now, at night, we barely sleep. The constant hum of the huge machines from the mine doesn’t let us. The air we breathe is polluted. “The pollution also contaminates our water. This in turn generates health problems and illnesses, affecting our children. These are the consequences we face for having the Cerrejón mine for a neighbour.” Arie Rompas, of Friends of the Earth in Indonesia, has travelled to London to highlight BHP’s recent sale of the IndoMet coal project in the country’s Central Kalimantan region. He claims BHP has avoided responsibility for a waste spill and further damage caused by the mine by selling its 75% stake in the project. “BHP paid criminally low compensation for the lands they have taken and now they are polluting our rivers and attempting to walk away from the mess they have made. They must be held accountable for all this.” A spokesperson for BHP said: “The AGM is an opportunity for shareholders to ask us about a wide range of issues and we look forward to answering their questions.” Regarding Samarco, the spokesperson said: “While considerable work remains over the long term, progress is being made in the response effort. “While we cannot bring back the lives that were lost, we continue to focus on ensuring that the families and communities affected by the tragedy are supported. “BHP Billiton Brasil is working with Vale and Samarco to rebuild and restore the environment and communities and ensure compensation where restoration is impossible.” |