Anglo is currently waiting on an environmental license to avoid a halt at its Minas-Rio iron ore project, a company executive told local media this week.
Ruben Fernandes, CEO at Anglo American in Brazil, told Hoje em Dia the license was first expected for July, then August and September. The license, which is needed for the company to advance to phase 3 of the project, is now forecasted for December this year.
“We have iron ore to operate nine months in 2018, until September. That’s it. If we don’t advance to phase 3 of the project, we won’t have iron ore,” the executive said, adding if Anglo American can’t get the license by September 2018, it would halt operations.
“If the license delays two, three or five months [to be approved], we’ll halt operations for a while. And we need to think how we would do that. Reducing production isn’t enough. It would not be feasible [for us] economically speaking,” he said.
The executive is confident the license will eventually be approved. He said the company doesn’t expect to lay off workers if it’s not approved on time, but Anglo could offer the workers collective vacations.