Chilean authorities have banned once again the development of a copper and iron ore project owned by local producer Andes Iron. The company appealed the ban on the Dominga iron ore project earlier this year, but a government minister council said the project does not guarantee safety for a national reserve in which 80 percent of the Humboldt penguin species lives.
The $2.5 billion project expects to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore. Also known as Minera Dominga, the project was rejected earlier this year by a Coquimbo’s environmental commission, which said the initiative lacked information about its influence area, as well as the impacts it could cause to the environment.
Andes Iron appealed the rejection of the project by the Coquimbo commission to the country’s minister council, which kept the ban.
“We’re not against the economic development neither the needed projects to the country’s growth, but they need to properly respond to the impacts they can generate. In this specific case, it wasn’t developed in a proper way,” Marcelo Mena, Chile’s environment minister said.
Andes Iron said on Monday it was deeply disappointed by the decision, adding that the company hopes the minister council will revert the previous decision, which has allegedly caused “damage to Chilean democracy.”
Ivan Garrido, CEO of Minera Dominga, Andes Iron’s subsidiary owning the project, said the way the ministers responded to the company’s appeal was “unusual.” He claimed ministers did not have much time to analyze the project and rushed to issue a decision.
“Dominga’s environmental impact study took 3 years…with deep technical and scientific studies,” Garrido said.
Garrido said the company will appeal to the environmental courts to keep “defending the state of right, the equality before the law and a genuine solution for the sustainable development of our country.”