Oceana, a marine conservation-focused non-governmental organization (NGO), intends to appeal a Chilean environmental court decision that allowed a banned iron ore project to resume activities.
Earlier this month, the court ordered local environment authority, SEA, to re-evaluate a $2.5 billion iron ore project from local copper and iron ore producer Andes Iron. Judges at Chile’s First Environmental Court in Antofagasta unanimously ordered SEA to re-evaluate the project, while accepting the claims filed by Andes Iron.
Oceana plans to present an appeal asking Chile’s highest court to annul the Antofagasta court decision, which found that the project’s valuation by a SEA commission did not have a proper technical basis.
The project aims to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore per year.