A body of federal prosecutors in Brazil has filed a dispute challenging Anglo American’s existing licenses to operate its Minas-Rio iron ore project.
Federal prosecutors at the Ministerio Publico Federal (MPF) filed two years ago a request to annul the company’s 529kmlong (328milelong) pellet feed-transporting slurry pipeline provisional and installing licenses, but the matter has not yet been resolved, MPF said.
Meanwhile, Anglo American, which expects to produce 26.5 million mt/year of iron ore when the Minas-Rio project is complete, obtained the two licenses. Prosecutors did not agree with the granting of the licenses, as the project allegedly affects local communities.
As a result, prosecutors filed a dispute late in August challenging the arguments of Anglo American, federal environmental regulator Ibama, the state of Minas Gerais, and the federal government, that resulted in the granting of the licenses by regulators to Anglo American.
Prosecutors said environmental bodies were faulty when granting the licenses. The prosecutors’ dispute has yet to be reviewed.