Chilean mining company Andes Iron is willing to abandon a port project it expected to develop in order to build a $2.5 billion iron ore project currently banned by Chilean authorities, according to a media report by Diario Financiero.
In a court hearing, Patricio Leyton, a lawyer representing Andes Iron, said the company would abandon the port project to move forward on the iron ore project.
Chilean iron ore producer CAP Mineria, part of CAP Group, also plans to build a second port in the Coquimbo region. The news report said Andes Iron’s willingness to give up a project that will allow competitor CAP Mineria to build its own port could make it easier to lift the ban on the $2.5 billion Dominga iron ore project.
“We understand the concerns of plaintiffs (including a non-governmental organization, or NGO) regarding the existence of two ports in the region. We’re assuming the commitment to have just one port in the region. That means that if (CAP) builds its (Cruz Grande) port, we won’t pursue our port project and we’d evaluate (potential port) connections,” Leyton said.
As for CAP Mineria’s project, a Chilean court had allowed it to build it in Cruz Grande in April 2018. More recently, in February this year, the Chilean branch of Oceana, a NGO, filed a request to local environmental regulator, SEA, to annul CAP Mineria’s project. Oceana claimed that CAP Mineria had not executed the project in the last five years.
The value of project was estimated by holding company CAP Group at $250 million, with a project iron ore capacity of 13.5 million mt/year.
CAP Mineria filed the project in 2012, and it was approved by SEA in 2015.