Brazil’s Federal Public Defender Sues Braskem Over Abandoned Maceió Salt Mines

Brazil's federal public defender's office has filed a lawsuit against Braskem for damages totaling at least R$5 billion (US$971 million) stemming from the abandonment of salt mines in Maceió. The unusual twist is that the Brazilian federal government is also listed as a defendant. The suit, filed on August 27, 2026, seeks the court to condemn Braskem for the lost Maceió salt mines and values the damage to federal mineral patrimony at R$5 billion (US$971 million) based on Braskem's own mine closure plan from September 2019.

The mines, which were shut down early, abandoned 29.4 million tonnes of rock-salt reserves, accounting for 52 percent of the deposit's potential value. Under Brazilian law, mineral resources in the subsoil belong to the federal government. The lawsuit was signed by federal public defender Diego Bruno Alves and is based on a 2024 Senate parliamentary inquiry that accused Braskem of "ambitious extraction" or mining outside the approved plan by public authorities.

The suit also accuses Braskem of shrinking safety distances between extraction wells, interconnecting underground cavities, and concealing technical information from federal and state inspectors.

The federal government is also a defendant in the suit, accused of failing to protect its own mineral patrimony despite the Senate inquiry's conclusions. The defender argues that no lawsuit or administrative charge was filed over the mineral damage, calling it an unlawful omission. The federal defender has been working on the case since 2018, opening an administrative procedure against the government and providing legal aid to victims.

The money, if awarded, would not go to the federal treasury but to a collective reparatory fund under social participation and control, which would finance urban recomposition and support the affected communities.