SYDNEY – BHP Billiton BLT.L – has not received formal notification that its assets in Brazil have been frozen, a company spokesman said Monday, three days after a court ruled to hold the assets as compensation for the Samarco mining disaster.
“We have yet to receive any formal notification,” BHP Billiton’s Paul Hutchins said by telephone from the company’s Melbourne headquarters. “We hope to have an update tomorrow.”
A judge in Brazil’s state of Minais Gerais on Friday froze the Brazilian assets of BHP and domestic miner Vale SA after ruling their Samarco joint venture was unable to pay for damages following a dam collapse last month at Samarco’s iron ore mine in the state. The disaster killed 16 people, left hundreds homeless, and polluted a nearby river.