A new ruling by the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) will likely further postpone Samarco’s restart.
The country’s Supreme Court has annulled a decision that obliged the city of Santa Barbara, in the state of Minas Gerais, to issue a rapid decision on a pending document the pellet producer owned by Vale and BHP Billiton needed to advance its operating licensing process.
The country’s Supreme Court has annulled a decision that obliged the city of Santa Barbara, in the state of Minas Gerais, to issue a rapid decision on a pending document the pellet producer owned by Vale and BHP Billiton needed to advance its operating licensing process.
Recently, Samarco recognized that an “end-2017 restart was getting difficult.”
Samarco depends on pending licensing documents from the Minas Gerais state environment agency, Semad, and from the city of Santa Barbara, which was obliged to issue a compliance letter.
Initially, the city of Santa Barbara was expected to release a decision by June 6 on whether Samarco could resume collecting water from the city, an important step for the pending compliance letter, which could then be used by Samarco to request its operating license.
However, the new Supreme Court decision makes it more difficult for Samarco to advance its licensing process.
Samarco made different forecasts on whether it could resume pellet output.
Samarco halted its operations in November 2015, following a deadly iron ore waste dam burst that killed 19 people.