Copam, a Minas Gerais state environmental authority, will evaluate this Friday Samarco’s request to obtain both a preliminary license and a permit to install a pit to receive waste coming from Mariana city as soon as the company resumes operations.
If Copam approves Samarco’s requests, the pellet producer can start construction on the Alegria Sul pit. But in order to utilize it, Samarco needs an operating license.
Samarco also requires a correctional operating license for its entire complex in Mariana in order to restart operations.
Samarco’s operations have been halted since November 2015, following a deadly iron ore waste dam burst.