Mining giants BHP and Vale have committed nearly $30bn to compensate for the 2015 Mariana dam collapse and its impacts.

BHP (NYSE:BHP) and partner Vale (VALE) said Friday they reached a final settlement with Brazilian authorities valued at 170B reais (~$31.7B) for a 2015 mining disaster at the companies Samarco iron ore joint venture.

In a statement to ASX, BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry said the Samarco Fundão dam failure was a terrible tragedy that should never have happened, and must never be forgotten. Mr Henry said BHP have always been committed to supporting Samarco to do what’s right by the Brazilian people,

BHP Group has finalized a R$170 billion settlement with Brazilian Public Authorities for the 2015 Samarco dam collapse. This catastrophic event in Mariana led to 19 fatalities and severe pollution of the Rio Doce river.

BHP, in addition to demands for settlement in Brazil, is facing litigation over the collapse of the dam in London, which is complicating its attempts to finalise these agreements.

Mining giant BHP has agreed to a massive $23.7bn settlement with the Brazilian government over the 2015 Samarco dam disaster.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed an agreement worth tens of billions of dollars with the mining companies responsible for a 2015 dam collapse that was one of the country’s worst

The settlement between the two miners and the Brazilian government is the result of years of litigation after the dam collapse that killed 19 people and polluted more than 400 miles of river.