BHP mine disaster waste in Brazil was toxic: UN

PanARMENIAN.Net - Miner BHP Billiton’s woes in Brazil deepened as the United Nations said the millions of tonnes of mine waste which breached a dam and killed 12 people were packed with toxic pollutants, Evening Standard reports.

BHP owns the Germano iron-ore mine in the Samarco joint venture with Brazil’s Vale, which has been targeted by mud-coated protesters outside its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro following the country’s worst environmental disaster.

BHP and Vale claim the estimated 60 million cubic metres of mine waste, equivalent to 25,000 Olympic swimming pools, are not dangerous.

But, citing “new evidence,” the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the residue “contained high levels of toxic-heavy metals and other toxic chemicals”.

The mud has killed thousands of fish as it flows through the Rio Doce, connecting the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais with Espirito Santo on the Atlantic coast.

Drinking water was cut off for around a quarter of a million people.

Shares in BHP, already hit by a commodity sell-off, have fallen more than 20% since the disaster on November 5 and slid another 22.3p to 831.15p on Thursday, November 26.