Andes Iron, the copper and iron ore company that plans to develop a $2.5 billion iron ore project known as Dominga, is upbeat about the project’s development, following a new government decision.
Recently, a Chilean environmental court in Antofagasta unanimously voted to demand a regional assessment commission to re-evaluate the project’s impact study. Early in August, a Coquimbo Environmental Evaluation Commission finally allowed the project to be once again evaluated.
According to the Coquimbo commission decision viewed by SteelOrbis, all decisions after the day 173 of the project’s environment evaluation process are void. This means the project can now be considered once again and may eventually advance. This week, a company’s executive said Andes Iron is upbeat the project could soon commence the halted project.
“The sentence of the (Chilean) environment court has been so robust, so solid and specific that make us think that we’ll have a favorable result in the technical and legal instances that we should face ahead,” said Francisco Villalon, manager for the company’s corporate affairs.
The project has suffered a number of setbacks over the years, as reported by SteelOrbis. The company had been appealing all decisions preventing the project from advancing, and admitted it would even give up a port it expected to develop near the proposed Dominga mine, so it could move on with the iron ore project, which aims to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore per year.
Local environmental regulator SEA was the first to reject the project in March 2017. Then, a Coquimbo’s environment commission had also banned it. In August 2017, a minister council kept the project ban.