Anglo American said it has obtained authorization from an environmental regulator to substitute part of a slurry pipeline. Ibama granted the iron producer an authorization on August 16 for it to perform preventive maintenance at a 4-km section of a slurry pipeline in Santo Antonio do Grama, in Minas Gerais state.
The section is part of a 529-km long (328-mile) slurry pipeline connecting cities in the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The slurry pipeline makes up the so-called Anglo American Minas-Rio iron ore project.
Anglo said Ibama’s authorization allows it to preventively change tubes in that specific section, where two incidents were reported, resulting in project’s halt first late March and then in April.
Anglo American said works in the 4-km section of the slurry pipeline may last up to three months. Anglo continues investigating the causes of the two incidents, it said.