The Brazil Public Ministry (MPMG) in the state of Minas Gerais, a body of public prosecutors, has begun an inquiry involving the country’s iron ore producer MMX, local media reported recently.
According to media reports, the inquiry follows an investigation, which denounced employees of the Minas Gerais state who would have practiced crimes that favored MMX.
According to MPMG, in mid-2012 analysts of the ministry seized works at the iron ore project Serra Azul over environmental concerns that included “irreparable impacts” in the region. But in the same year the sub-secretary of environment at Minas Gerais state, Maria Claudia Pinto, ordered the mine would not shut down.
“After some indecision, [Adriano Magalhaes, who was asked to not shut down the mine] determined there would be no embargo and that nobody should visit MMX’s site,” said one of the prosecutors.
Prosecutors also included in the denunciation parts of several recorded phone calls that would prove the illegal practices occurring in the government level.
Since mid-2012, the project was not shut down, but a year later, in 2013, the secretariat of environment in the state of Minas Gerais determined the project should be examined, as a way to “adopt a decision to mask its omissions and unjustified delays,” prosecutors said.
In a statement, MMX said it does not know the content of the denouncement and continues its operations in Serra Azul by obeying the orders of regulators.
According to MMX, its Serra Azul project has an installed capacity of 8.7 million metric tons per year of iron ore.