Chilean copper and iron ore producer Andes Iron could potentially revert a government ban that prevented the company from developing its Dominga iron ore project, according to a media report.
Quoting a local lawyer, a media report from Diario Financiero said the conditions under which the project was rejected favors Andes Iron.
The company said at the time it would appeal the decision to the environmental courts to keep “defending the state of right, the equality before the law and a genuine solution for the sustainable development of our country.”
Rodrigo Weisner, a lawyer with Puga Ortiz, said there was a lack of motivation for the ban on the project. The $2.5 billion project, also known as Minera Dominga, expects to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore.
Weisner said the regional environment commission that rejected the project banned it based on demands it did not request during the process.
The project was rejected earlier this year by Coquimbo’s environmental commission, which said the initiative lacked information about its influence area, as well as the impacts it could cause to the environment.
Andes Iron appealed the rejection of the project by the Coquimbo commission to the country’s minister council, which maintained the ban.
“We’re not against the economic development or the needed projects to the country’s growth, but they need to properly respond to the impacts they can generate. In this specific case, it wasn’t developed in a proper way,” said Marcelo Mena, Chile’s environment minister, in the most recent decision.