The Ministerio Publico Federal (MPF), a body of public prosecutors, asked a Brazilian court to annul Anglo American’s provisional and installing licenses for the its Minas-Rio iron ore project, prosecutors said this week.
Anglo American needs an operating license to advance phase 3 of its Minas-Rio iron ore project, which includes an open pit mine, a beneficiation plant producing high-grade pellet feed, and a 529kmlong (328milelong) pellet feed-transporting pipeline connecting different cities in the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.
The step 3 installing license was granted in January this year following delays in 2017. Anglo first expected to complete the “full step 3” with an operational license by mid-2019, but recent incidents at the slurry pipeline delayed the company’s goal.
Prosecutors also asked the court to halt all activities related to step or phase 3 of the project, since phases 1 and 2 were approved without meeting certain conditions. Anglo American said this week iron ore production at the Minas-Rio site was “immaterial” as operations remain suspended due to a slurry pipeline burst.
Anglo said Minas-Rio produced 105,800 mt of the commodity in Q2 this year, down from 4.3 million mt in Q2 2017. Minas-Rio exported 320,800 mt of pellet feet in Q2 this year, down from 4.3 million mt in the same quarter of the year prior.
“Full year production guidance for Minas-Rio remains at 3 million mt reflecting production delivered to date in 2018,” the company said.