‘Coal is a death sentence’: Protesters disrupt BHP AGM

BHP bosses faced tough questions inside and outside of the Brisbane National Convention Centre during the company’s AGM.

BHP bosses clashed with angry protesters inside and outside of their annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Climate shareholders interrupted the BHP AGM, saying “coal is a death sentence, climate action now”, as they voiced their concerns about the mining giant’s expanding coalmining operations.

The protesters clashed with BHP for its transition plan which the protesters claim will lock in coal use for the next 90 years.

BHP says it is on track to meet its targets of a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero operational emissions by 2050.

Angry BHP shareholders have also questioned the payments the company will have to make in the light of the 2015 Samarco dam collapse in Brazil, as litigation continues in the UK and Australian courts.

In the first AGM since BHP reached a settlement of $US31.7bn ($A48bn) over the Samarco incident that killed 19 people and severely polluted the Doce River, BHP executives were questioned whether the dispute was over.

Union members send BHP a message. Picture: NewsWire

Shareholders voiced concerns that hundreds of thousands of victims were still seeking up to $A70bn in further payments.

“We are going to continue to defend those claims. The UK action is currently under way in the courts and we cannot comment further,” BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie said.

Mr MacKenzie expressed his regret for the tragedy.

“The Samarco dam failure remains a tragedy and we are deeply sorry for the loss of life and damage it caused,” he said.

He said signing a deal with Brazilian public authorities last week was an important step but was unable to comment in detail about the class action proceedings in the UK and Australia.

The agreement provides reparation for the impacts of the dam failure and builds on the existing remediation and compensation work already performed by the Renova Foundation in Brazil that totals about $A11.9bn.

In total, the financial value of the agreement is $A48bn for the people, communities and environment impacted by the dam failure.

The Samarco disaster occurred on November 5, 2015, when a tailings dam failed at the iron ore mine jointly owned by BHP and Brazilian mining company Vale.

The resulting flood of toxic mud buried villages, contaminated rivers, and claimed 19 lives while also causing long-term environmental and social damage.

Over the following years, BHP faced intense legal scrutiny and public pressure to address the consequences of the incident.

Meanwhile, the Mining and Energy Union (MEU) held an event across the road, calling on the mining giant to stop fighting the “same job, same pay” laws that came into effect last Friday.

Climate activists crash BHP’s annual general meeting. Picture: NewsWire

The estimated 500 mine workers meeting in Brisbane for the MEU’s National Convention on Wednesday sent a message to BHP shareholders and executives about what they say are the company’s unfair work practices, including paying labour hire workers less than permanent employees.

“Same job, same pay is driving pay rises for labour hire workers as intended. It is also leading to mining companies hiring more permanent workers, as their financial incentive to outsource is removed,” MEU general secretary Grahame Kelly previously said.

“There is a consistent trend of hiring more permanent employees among our biggest mine operators, including Anglo, Peabody, Whitehaven, Glencore and BHP – some of these companies haven’t taken on permanents in over a decade.”

The union said the first same job, same pay order at Callide mine would deliver about $5m in annual pay rises to the labour hire workforce at that site, with several more orders anticipated to be made by the Fair Work Commission ahead of the laws taking effect on Friday, November 1.

The mining union was joined at the AGM by dozens of climate protesters who voicing their concerns about BHP spruiking its green credentials while selling coal.

Mr Mackenzie said the transition to net zero was important to the company’s future mining operations.

“We are very excited about copper as an asset going forward, as copper demand is expected to grow by 70 per cent. The fundamentals around decarbonisation, electrification and digital will continue to drive demand for copper.

“On the supply side, there just aren’t enough. The investment in new copper is just not going to be enough.”