An environmental court has asked the Chilean government to provide documents indicating whether Andes Iron did or did not provide enough information about the impact of its $2.5 billion iron ore project on the local environment, SteelOrbis has learned.
The court ruling was published early in July, according to a document obtained by SteelOrbis Monday. The court ordered the Chilean Ministry of Environment to indicate if the Andes Iron project is “compatible” with the biodiversity of the surrounding areas of the Coquimbo Bay.
The Chilean court will use the government’s information to better advance the banned $2.5 billion project, which aims to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore per year.
Local environmental regulator SEA was the first reject the project in March 2017. Coquimbo’s environmental commission had also banned it, and in August 2017, a minister council maintained the project ban.
Since then, Andes Iron had been appealing the case. More recently, in May 2018, an environmental court ordered the project to be re-evaluated, before a Chilean not-for-profit (NGO) organization asked for a ban on the project, which was denied.
Due to recent setbacks, Andes Iron admitted it gave up a port it expected to develop near the proposed Dominga mine, so it could move on the iron ore project.