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50 articles tagged with Failure
Cameco has temporarily suspended mining at the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan after a sulfuric acid plant failure forced shutdown of Orano’s McClean Lake mill, which normally processes the ore. The McClean Lake facility, 70 km northeast of Cigar Lake and one of the world’s largest uranium plants with 24 million lb/year concentrate capacity, is expected to restart in about two weeks, with Orano seeking interim acid supply. Cameco, which has produced 174.5 million lb of yellowcake from Cigar Lake since 2014, says its 2026 output guidance remains unchanged unless delays extend.
HS2 joint venture SCS, formed by Skanska Construction UK, Costain and Strabag, has been fined £400,000 after a tipper truck drove off the edge of an excavation ramp at the Copthall North site, injuring its driver. The incident involved a fully loaded tipper leaving the unprotected ramp edge during bulk earthworks, pointing to deficiencies in temporary works design and haul road edge protection. Contractors on major infrastructure schemes will likely face closer scrutiny of excavation ramp geometry, barrier systems and traffic management for heavy earthmoving plant.
Lima Construction Limited has been fined £50,000, plus £11,347 costs, after worker Antonio Rodrigues fell three metres through an unglazed, unprotected Juliet-door window void onto an internal concrete floor during a former department store redevelopment in New Malden. The HSE found the principal contractor failed to install temporary boarding or internal scaffold guard rails over the newly formed openings and stopped carrying out the legally required weekly scaffold inspections after 5 July 2022. Inspectors stressed that straightforward edge protection at the time the voids were created would likely have prevented the fatal fall.
Two shallow earthquakes of magnitude 7.1 and 6.8 struck near Caracas and La Guaira within hours, collapsing mid‑rise reinforced concrete apartment blocks and older unreinforced masonry in hillside barrios, with hundreds confirmed dead and thousands displaced. Liquefaction, lateral spreading and rockfalls have damaged key transport links, including sections of the Caracas–La Guaira motorway and port access roads, complicating access for rescue equipment and temporary shoring. Geotechnical teams are racing to assess slope stability on steep, weathered tropical soils and to prioritise demolition versus retrofit of heavily cracked shear‑wall structures.
A joint venture contractor on HS2 has been fined £400,000 after a 20 t tipper truck left the edge of an excavation ramp, leaving the driver with multiple serious injuries. The incident involved a temporary earthworks access ramp where the truck overran the unprotected edge and rolled into the excavation. The case signals renewed scrutiny of haul road and ramp design, edge protection, and traffic management on major UK infrastructure sites, particularly for heavy earthmoving plant.
Pothole-related breakdowns reported to the RAC in February averaged 225 per day, more than five times the 2025 daily average of 43, signalling rapid deterioration of UK carriageway surfaces. The spike points to accelerated fatigue and ravelling in asphalt layers under repeated freeze–thaw and heavy axle loads, with defects progressing from fretting to full-depth potholes before scheduled maintenance cycles. For highway engineers, the figures reinforce the need to reassess intervention thresholds, drainage performance and resurfacing frequencies within constrained local authority budgets.
A preliminary Rail Accident Investigation Branch report finds East Midlands Railway service 1H46 from Corby to London St Pancras passed a red signal at Bedford and struck stationary service 1B67 from Nottingham at 79km/h. The collision occurred on the Up Slow line north of Bedford station, damaging both Class 360 EMUs and overhead line equipment but causing no fatalities. Investigators are examining signal aspect sequences, driver actions, and the performance of the Train Protection & Warning System and associated braking behaviour.
A fatal train crash near Bedford on 19 June has prompted transport secretary Heidi Alexander to tell the House of Commons that the UK still has one of the safest railway networks globally. She confirmed that the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and Office of Rail and Road are opening formal investigations into the incident, alongside British Transport Police inquiries. Engineers can expect scrutiny of track condition, rolling stock performance and signalling interfaces on the affected section, with any interim safety recommendations likely to be implemented rapidly across comparable assets.
Underground operations at Newmont’s Cadia mine in New South Wales have been halted for the second time in nine weeks after magnitude-3.2 and 3.4 earthquakes struck the site early Friday, with the latter event occurring about 1 km below surface. Cadia, a panel-cave operation producing roughly 385,000 oz of gold and 82,000 tonnes of copper annually and contributing about 11% of Newmont’s net asset value, had only recently undergone a five-week rehabilitation to restore output to 80% capacity after an April magnitude-4.5 tremor. RBC warns that recurring seismicity introduces material safety, production and regulatory uncertainty for the long-life operation, currently approved to 2031.
A 2024 passenger train collision in Wales that killed one passenger has been attributed by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch primarily to low wheel–rail adhesion, with additional contributory factors. Investigators point to severely reduced braking performance on contaminated railhead conditions, where the train was unable to stop within the expected braking distance for the approach speed. The findings will likely drive closer scrutiny of railhead treatment regimes, adhesion management strategies and braking assumptions in signalling and approach control design on similar UK routes.
Alamos Gold expects second-quarter output from its Young-Davidson underground mine in northern Ontario to fall to 130,000–135,000 oz, about 12% below prior guidance, after two seismic events damaged infrastructure and cut access to two higher-grade stopes, compounded by a three-day storm-related power outage. Consolidated 2026 production is now projected below full-year guidance with unit costs rising, with revised figures due in July. Production stability is shifting to the Island Gold District, where underground mining rates are planned to increase from 1,500 to 2,000 t/d and the Magino mill ramp-up targets 10,000 t/d by Q3.
Ardmore Construction Group and related entities, including Ardmore Major Projects, Ardmore Fitout, Ardmore Regeneration, Landmark Facades and Ardmore Hotels & Commercial, have entered administration and ceased trading, with licensed insolvency practitioners from BTG and Panos Eliades Callender & Co. appointed on 11–12 June 2026. Around 275 staff have been made redundant, with the joint administrators coordinating DWP engagement and Redundancy Payments Service claims. BTG Eddisons and specialist quantity surveyors are inspecting live sites to secure assets, assess health and safety conditions and stabilise project interfaces.
Improvement notices have been served by the Office for Nuclear Regulation to EDF and Trillium Flow Services UK Ltd after potential asbestos exposure during a March 2026 valve overhaul on the steam system at Torness Nuclear Power Station, East Lothian. ONR found asbestos had been identified and removed from a similar valve in 2024 but not entered into the site asbestos register, which is meant to be the central record for location and condition of asbestos and was reportedly not consistently consulted in maintenance planning. EDF has suspended all in-house asbestos removal while it addresses failures under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, with Trillium also cited for inadequate work-log close-out and pre-maintenance asbestos assessment.
Temporary platform collapse on a Roots Contractors Limited site left drilling operative Steve Zschoch with a fractured neck after he was “folded up like a concertina” beneath the failed structure while working for subcontractor Diacutt Limited. Both firms have now been fined for safety failings relating to the design, installation and verification of the temporary working platform, which was being used for drilling operations. The case reinforces the need for formal temporary works design checks, competent supervision and load-path verification for access platforms on small civil and infrastructure projects.
Sinkholes discovered by Network Rail engineers on a rail bridge outside Purley have forced the closure of all lines between Purley and East Croydon, severing direct rail links between central London and Gatwick Airport. The defect was identified during planned engineering works, prompting immediate suspension of services on this key section of the Brighton Main Line. Geotechnical teams now face urgent investigation of foundation conditions and void extent beneath the bridge, with stabilisation and monitoring requirements likely to dictate the duration of disruption.
Esso has been fined £1M by the UK Health and Safety Executive after 2.4t of highly flammable liquefied petroleum gas leaked from ageing plant at ExxonMobil’s Fawley Refinery due to failures in managing equipment integrity. The incident, which exposed workers to “life-threatening risks”, stemmed from inadequate inspection and maintenance of pipework and associated fittings in a hazardous area of the site. Process safety engineers and asset managers are likely to face closer scrutiny of inspection regimes, corrosion monitoring, and lifecycle replacement strategies for high-pressure LPG systems.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck offshore Mindanao, Philippines, at a depth of about 32 km, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 130 across Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental and neighbouring provinces. Strong shaking triggered widespread liquefaction, lateral spreading and coastal slope failures, damaging bridges, port facilities and low-rise reinforced concrete buildings with soft-storey behaviour. Engineers are prioritising rapid assessment of pile-supported structures on reclaimed land, stability of coastal embankments and the integrity of lifeline corridors linking key mining and agricultural areas.
Alchemist DB Limited has been fined £20,000 plus £5,000 costs at Luton Magistrates Court after 35-year-old labourer Mykhalio Hustei died in October 2021, falling into a rainwater-filled foundation trench on a Bovington High Street flat development. An HSE investigation found criss-crossing excavation footings with no designated safe walkways, workers using unsecured, handrail-free boards and planks that bowed and became slippery in wet weather, and no dedicated site lighting. Only after enforcement did the firm install scaffold-framed walkways over exposed excavations, as required under CDM 2015 Regulation 22(2).
South West Water has been fined £1.85M at Exeter Magistrates’ Court after a Cryptosporidium contamination at the Hillhead treatment works left tens of thousands of Devon customers without potable tap water in summer 2026. The DWI prosecution centred on failures in disinfection and monitoring barriers required under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations, including inadequate protozoa control and delayed public notification. Other water companies are now ramping up enforcement and risk reviews of treatment works, with particular focus on UV systems, filtration integrity and contingency planning for microbial outbreaks.
Boroo has entered a 90‑day exclusivity agreement with PwC to conduct due diligence on acquiring the landslide‑damaged Eagle gold mine in Yukon, where a June 2024 heap leach pad failure released millions of tonnes of ore and at least 280,000 m³ of cyanide-bearing solution. PwC previously valued Eagle’s assets at nearly C$825 million against about C$458 million in accident-related liabilities, while a 2023 mine plan outlined 124 million tonnes at 0.65 g/t Au (2.58 Moz contained) over a 12‑year life. Boroo brings heap leach experience from Lagunas Norte and Mongolian operations, backed by US$300 million in senior secured notes, but must still secure Yukon government and Na‑Cho Nyäk Dun approvals.
Glencore’s Cerrejón mine in La Guajira, one of the world’s largest open-pit coal operations, has halted mining, rail and port activities and declared force majeure after a community blockade cut fuel and coal movements on the railway to Puerto Bolívar from 23 May. Cerrejón, which produced 16.8 Mt in 2025 and has faced nearly 80 blockades this year (333 in 2024, plus nine terrorist attacks), has suspended most employment contracts while maintaining staff for maintenance and environmental controls. The dispute centres on constitutional rulings, water access, renewable energy projects and royalty distribution, signalling persistent social and regulatory risk for Colombian coal, whose national output fell to 53.9 Mt in 2025.
Activist fund Elliott Investment Management has confirmed a roughly A$1 billion stake in Northern Star Resources, giving it about 4% of the ASX-listed gold producer and placing it among the top five shareholders alongside Van Eck and BlackRock. Elliott is pushing for a new mining-experienced board, an external CEO and a formal strategic review, citing “repeated operational missteps”, cost overruns and “deeply inadequate disclosures” at assets including the KCGM open pit in Kalgoorlie. The move follows two production downgrades in 2026, supply issues at KCGM and a share price fall of up to 30% this year despite strong gold prices.
Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject, which bundles five megaprojects including the 170km-long linear city The Line, appears to have stalled completely, according to a public relations professional who previously represented the scheme. The reported pause raises fresh uncertainty over large-scale enabling works, including desert earthworks, coastal reclamation and deep foundation packages already tendered or partially mobilised. Contractors and consultants with exposure to Neom’s early-stage infrastructure may now face demobilisation, contract renegotiation and delayed cashflow on geotechnical investigations, transport corridors and utilities corridors planned for the site.
Metropolitan Police say they remain on schedule to submit full Grenfell Tower fire charging files to the Crown Prosecution Service by the end of September, nearly 10 years after the 2017 disaster. The investigation has reviewed the roles of 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations, with 57 people and 20 organisations now suspected of offences including gross negligence manslaughter, misconduct in public office, fraud and health and safety breaches. Evidence gathered includes 165 million electronic files, 14,400 witness statements and over 27,000 physical exhibits such as cladding, insulation, doors and windows.
A 10 August 2025 rockslide in Alaska’s Tracy Arm Fjord sent more than 64 million m³ of rock and debris into the water, generating a megatsunami with an estimated maximum run-up of about 481 m along the steep fjord walls, the second-highest recorded after Lituya Bay 1958. The failure was linked to support loss from South Sawyer Glacier’s retreat, with the narrow fjord geometry strongly amplifying wave heights. No casualties occurred, but the near miss for cruise traffic signals a rising landslide–tsunami hazard in deglaciating fjords that must be factored into navigation and infrastructure risk assessments.
Freeport Indonesia has pushed back Grasberg’s full production restart to early 2028, after a September mudflow in the Grasberg Block Cave killed seven workers, halted underground mining and triggered force majeure on shipments. The complex, which previously supplied about 3% of global copper (1.7 billion lb/year) and 1.4 million oz/year of gold, is currently operating at roughly 40–50% capacity, with copper output for 2026 now guided at 700 million lb versus a prior 1‑billion‑lb target. Ramp-up targets have been reset to 65% capacity in H2 2026 and 80% by mid‑2027, as additional logistics and ore-handling infrastructure work proceeds.
Transport for NSW is shortlisting engineering solutions to reinstate Mitchells Causeway on the Great Western Highway after a defect in the pavement over the structure forced closure of Victoria Pass on 12 March. Subsequent investigations identified serious stress fractures forming in the westbound lanes, prompting a $50 million New South Wales Government package to upgrade key detour routes now carrying diverted traffic. Geotechnical and structural options for the causeway will need to address cracking behaviour under heavy freight loads and steep Blue Mountains topography while maintaining network resilience during works.
BHP has been denied permission by London’s Court of Appeal to challenge a High Court ruling that found it liable under Brazilian law for the 2015 Fundão tailings dam collapse at the Samarco iron ore operation in Mariana, which killed 19 people and contaminated the Rio Doce for hundreds of kilometres. The decision clears the way for a two-year UK damages process, with a Stage 2 compensation trial scheduled for April 2027 and final awards potentially extending beyond 2030. BHP points to a roughly $32 billion Brazil settlement and remediation programmes that have already compensated more than 625,000 people, with about 240,000 claimants discontinuing UK claims after indemnification in Brazil.
A methane and coal dust explosion at the La Ciscuda underground coal mine in Colombia’s central Cundinamarca province has killed nine workers and injured six, only weeks after the national mining agency (ANM) warned of gas accumulation risks at the site. The mine, operated by Carbonera Los Pinos, had been subject to ANM inspection visits focused on methane build-up and dust control, which the agency says can become dangerous if not properly managed. The incident again exposes ventilation, gas monitoring and dust suppression weaknesses at smaller Colombian coal operations, despite the country’s status as a major thermal coal exporter led by Glencore’s Cerrejón mine.
Lion One Metals shares fell over 30% to C$0.14 after cancelling a C$15 million private placement with Arete Capital Advisors and announcing the exit of CEO Campbell Olsen just two months into the role. The Arete deal would have issued 44.26 million units at C$0.34, each with a warrant at C$0.39, and included a master services agreement making Arete operator of the Tuvatu underground gold mine in Fiji. Tuvatu, designed for about 331,400 oz/year over five years, produced only 4,200 oz last quarter amid equipment, power and development constraints, while Lion One faces a senior loan default notice from Nebari and a shareholder move to remove directors.
Flood and coastal defence assets are facing mounting maintenance backlogs as ageing embankments, culverts and sea walls are exposed to more frequent, higher-intensity storm events. Experts warn that current operational budgets and short funding cycles prevent timely renewal of critical structures such as tidal barriers, pumping stations and flap valves, increasing failure risk under extreme water levels. They call for a shift from reactive patch repairs to long-term, whole-life asset management with multi-year funding settlements to support planned inspections, resilience upgrades and adaptive design.
The 1911 Tees Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough has been named on the Victorian Society’s 2026 Top 10 Endangered Buildings list, signalling serious deterioration in one of the UK’s last working transporter bridges. The 259m-long steel structure, which carries vehicles and pedestrians across the Tees via a suspended gondola, now faces major repair and corrosion-management challenges typical of century-old riveted trusses and mechanical lifting gear. For asset managers, the listing intensifies pressure to secure funding, define viable strengthening strategies and manage operational risk.
Boroo has entered a 90-day exclusivity agreement with receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers to negotiate the purchase of Victoria Gold’s Eagle gold mine in Yukon, about 375 km north of Whitehorse, after the June 2024 heap leach pad collapse released millions of tonnes of ore and at least 280,000 m³ of cyanide-bearing solution. PwC previously valued Eagle’s assets at about C$824.7 million and has Yukon government authorisation for C$220 million in clean-up spending. Boroo will now complete due diligence and negotiate restart terms with Yukon and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.
A landslide in northern Peru has forced the evacuation of more than 170 residents after continued ground movement destabilised a hillside settlement, with local authorities warning the slope remains active and at risk of further failure. Civil defence teams report tension cracks and progressive deformation upslope of the initial slip, prompting a red alert and temporary closure of nearby access roads. Geotechnical teams are now monitoring displacement and rainfall, with short-term controls focused on exclusion zones rather than immediate slope stabilisation works.
B2Gold’s Goose mine in Nunavut will cut Q2 gold output guidance to 18,000–20,000 oz. after an April 16 fire damaged the fixed crushing circuit, temporarily reducing throughput from the 4,000 t/d design capacity. Damage is confined to the crushing area, with the mill and power plant unaffected, and the company is switching to on-site mobile crushers plus additional hired temporary crushing capacity while repairs, budgeted at about C$10 million, run to Q3 alongside installation of a new run-of-mine bin and apron feeder.
A Worcestershire vehicle maintenance firm has been fined £30,000 plus £4,325 in costs after a worker was crushed beneath a one-tonne concrete block, sustaining what the court described as “devastating” injuries. The incident involved a precast block used on the company’s site, with inadequate control of lifting and securing operations identified as the core failure. The case signals continued regulatory pressure on small depots and workshops to apply full CDM- and LOLER-level rigour to handling heavy concrete units and temporary yard structures.
A parliamentary petition is demanding a full public inquiry into how national and local government managed the 2023 reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) crisis in public buildings. The move follows widespread emergency closures and propping of schools and other structures where Raac roof and floor planks, typically installed from the 1950s to 1990s, were found at risk of sudden shear and bearing failure. An inquiry could scrutinise inspection regimes, structural assessment criteria and decision-making thresholds used to classify Raac elements as critical.
Newmont has suspended underground operations at the Cadia gold mine near Orange, New South Wales, after a magnitude-4.5 earthquake struck west of the site overnight, triggering geotechnical inspections. The company is assessing ground support, backs and pillars in the panel cave and other underground workings before allowing personnel re-entry, while surface processing and other non-underground activities reportedly remain largely unaffected. The event will focus attention on seismic design criteria, rock mass characterisation and monitoring systems for deep block and panel cave operations in intraplate seismic regions.
A $4.7bn (£3.7bn) contract with WeBuild to construct an artificial lake at Trojena, part of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM winter sports resort, has been cancelled with around 30% of the works already completed. The scheme included a major dam and high-altitude lake intended as the centrepiece of a year-round ski and leisure development in the desert mountains. The termination raises immediate questions over sunk costs, re-purposing of partially built hydraulic structures and long-term water resource planning for large-scale tourism projects in arid regions.
Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice has reinstated criminal charges against former Vale CEO Fábio Schvartsman over the 25 January 2019 Brumadinho Córrego do Feijão tailings dam collapse, which killed more than 250 people and erased about US$19 billion from Vale’s market value in a single day. Federal prosecutors cited extensive internal documentation alleging Schvartsman assumed the risk of death by not acting on known instability issues at the upstream tailings structure, overturning a Minas Gerais court’s habeas corpus ruling. The decision restores 16 defendants, including ex‑Vale staff and TÜV SÜD consultants, with over 160 witnesses scheduled and hearings expected to run into next year, keeping corporate accountability for dam safety in sharp focus.
A coastal landslide on the East Devon coast at Branscombe has left multiple timber beach chalets tilted and partially cantilevered over the cliff edge, with foundations exposed after a major cliff recession event reported by the BBC. The failure occurred in weak, highly erodible cliff materials following prolonged wet weather and recent storms, accelerating existing coastal erosion. Local authorities have cordoned off the area and are assessing further instability risks, raising immediate questions over setback distances, slope monitoring, and long-term coastal retreat planning for similar soft-cliff sites.
Huws Gray has been fined £2.2m plus full costs at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court after 56-year-old labourer Paul Coulson was fatally crushed by a three‑tonne pallet of timber on a conveyor at the Herringswell Sawmills site in Suffolk on 22 May 2024. HSE investigators found workers had entered the conveyor framework at least 19 times in five weeks despite warning signage, with no physical guarding or system change implemented until after the incident. Post‑accident measures now include fixed guarding to prevent access, unwrapping pallets before loading, and expanded CCTV coverage of all conveyor angles.
Coastal erosion has destroyed a section of the A379 Slapton line in Devon, severing a key coastal route, but central government has offered only sympathy and no funding or technical commitment to reinstate it. The community, which depends on the road as the primary link between Kingsbridge and Dartmouth, now faces long diversion routes on minor inland roads not designed for current traffic volumes or heavy vehicles. For geotechnical and coastal engineers, the situation signals continued uncertainty over who funds long-term adaptation of low-lying coastal highways exposed to accelerating shoreline retreat.
SSR Mining has agreed to sell its 80% stake in the Çöpler gold mine in eastern Anatolia to Cengiz Holding for US$1.5 billion in cash, sending SSR shares up 5.3% in pre-market trading and valuing the company at about US$5 billion. The transaction covers the mine, licences and all associated assets and liabilities, following a 2024 heap leach failure and landslide that left at least nine miners missing and was later linked to a third-party design flaw. SSR has already spent nearly US$150 million on reclamation and remediation, and analysts say the sale removes a major operational and reputational risk overhang.
A Rail Accident Investigation Branch report on a Port Glasgow possession details how a Kirow rail crane slewed unexpectedly and crushed two track workers between the crane and a wagon, leaving one with serious injuries. Investigators found the crane operator and controller were using unclear hand signals, with no agreed communication protocol, and that inadequate task lighting on the wagon meant the operator could not reliably see staff positions. The findings point to the need for formalised crane communication plans, better illumination of work areas, and stricter exclusion zones around on‑track plant.
A 19-year-old labourer, Renols Lleshi, died after stepping onto a ventilation shaft on the 12th-floor roof garden at the Ark Soane Academy residential block in Mill Hill Road, London W3, where the opening was covered only with plasterboard and roofing foam before he fell six floors. Jerram Falkus Construction Limited admitted breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £42,200, plus a £2,000 surcharge and £5,000 costs at City of London Magistrates Court. HSE found routine site inspections excluded the roof garden, so the fragile, non-loadbearing cover and fall hazard were never identified or controlled.
Balfour Beatty Group has pleaded not guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates Court to two Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 charges following the July 2023 death of construction worker Stuart Cook, 58, at AWE’s Aldermaston nuclear site in West Berkshire. The company denies breaching Section 2(1) regarding its duty to protect its employee and Section 3(1) concerning risks to non-employees arising from construction activities on the Atomic Weapons Establishment site. ONR is prosecuting as a conventional health and safety case, with no radiological risk reported and no trial date yet set.
Local roads in England and Wales now carry a record £18.62bn maintenance backlog, with the 2026 Alarm survey warning it would take more than 10 years to restore networks even after the government’s reallocation of HS2 funding to local transport. Councils report accelerating carriageway deterioration, with more potholes forming on ageing asphalt surfaces that are already beyond typical 20–30 year design lives. For highway engineers, the figures signal continued pressure to triage works, prioritise structural resurfacing over patching, and justify asset-management-led interventions.
FP McCann has been fined £110,000 at Antrim Crown Court after subcontractor William Houston died at the company’s Loughside Quarry cone crushing plant in Larne in April 2023. A 45kg stone, manually removed from a blocked cone crusher and carried along a raised conveyor catwalk about 15ft above ground, fell through the railings and struck Houston as he walked below. HSENI’s major investigation team stressed the need for controls to prevent falling objects, citing simple measures such as exclusion zones beneath elevated work areas.
BHP has secured a UK Court of Appeal ruling that terminates contempt of court proceedings over allegations it funded Brazilian litigation via mining lobby group Ibram to stop municipalities joining UK lawsuits arising from the 2015 Samarco tailings dam collapse, which released about 50 million tonnes of waste into the Rio Doce. The decision comes as BHP seeks permission to appeal a separate High Court finding of liability, ahead of a London damages trial set for October 2026 and a further compensation phase in April 2027. BHP, Samarco and Vale continue implementing a ~$32 billion remediation agreement in Brazil, with over 625,000 people having received about $6.5 billion to date.